Proof of the Sun King

One late winter day, the cold wind whistled.

This is another normal winter in the Principality of Lyonnais. It is dark and cold outside. At night, no one dares to leave the village. The town wall composed of fences is the only line of defense for the serfs. Bandits, bandits, blood-sucking creatures, and beastmen will be in the wild, looking for their prey.

The fire in the house was not extinguished, hot water was burning inside, the floor was swept very clean, and an elderly mother was working hard to mend clothes and needlework.

From time to time, she looked at the child lying on the yellow linen bed with worried and reproachful eyes. The child knew that he had made a mistake. He lowered his head and said nothing.

This is her youngest son, whose husband died five years ago in the Knights' War.

The house was not far from the fence, and the old mother could hear the roar of the beast from time to time. She sewed her clothes and prayed silently: "Ms. Sarya, my lady Sarya, please bless Raymond. Come back safely."

Raymond is her eldest son, and now the only adult labor force in the family, in the slack farming time, he went to work for the knight master early in the morning. The youngest son is only eight years old, and it will take a few years before he can work in the fields. When I went to Qiulai, from morning to night, she and Raymond worked extremely hard. They never dared to slack off for a moment. Bread to eat.

And just today, her youngest son got into trouble. The old mother took out a piece of brown bread for dinner, cut one-eighth of it for herself, and planned to leave the rest to her two sons, but the youngest son took I ate all the rest of the brown bread and I was hungry.

The old mother wanted to scold the younger son, but when she saw the skinny appearance of the younger son - the ribs were directly outlined on the child's body, and the small arms and legs were as thin as reeds, the old mother would scold her if she wanted to. Can't speak.

The younger son's belly is unreasonably round. It is due to the edema caused by hunger all year round. If he lacks nutrition for a long time, his belly will swell up. After pressing down with his fingers, it will sag and it will take a long time to recover.

There is not much food in the family, and the daily ration must be halved before it can be boiled until the next grain harvest. How much more is the young son starving during this time? After a while after eating, she could hear the "gurgling" of her stomach.

The old mother forced herself to turn her attention back to the needlework in her hands, and as it got darker, she became more and more anxious.

"Hey, I ate too much today. Raymond will definitely scold me when he comes back. If he wants to scold, he can scold me. Thomas is too hungry. Children are ignorant. If you want to scold, scold me." He reached out and stroked the face of his younger son Thomas. She is only in her early forties this year, but she is already wrinkled and full of white hair: "It's okay, Thomas, I don't blame you, I don't blame you..."

"Mother...Mother." The younger son said timidly, with tears in his eyes: "Yes...I'm sorry."

"Ah~ it's all to blame for this bad age! And that **** tax collector!" The old mother shook her head. She wrapped her long, withered hair in a headscarf, and carefully checked how much food was left at home.

There are more than a dozen brown bread and a bag of semolina. If the daily food is reduced by 20%, it should be able to boil until the winter wheat is harvested.

Some people in the village had already started eating tree bark. The old mother reluctantly cut a small half of black bread with a knife. To serve the knight, you had to bring your own food, and this kind of labor was always high-intensity labor, and Raymond had to eat it. something, or he can't hold it.

"Boom~" There was a sudden sound from the door, and the old mother jumped up subconsciously, looking at the door nervously.

A icy night wind blew into the house, making one shudder.

The figure of the eldest son Raymond gradually emerged from the night wind. He looked tired, carrying tools and wearing only a single coat in the cold weather. The animal skin cloak outside was covered with a lot of thatch: "Hey, mother, I am I'm back, I'm exhausted."

"Oh, Raymond, you're back." The old mother felt very nervous, like a child who made a mistake, she said unnaturally: "Well, I've cut the bread, you can eat it quickly, there is heat in the stove water."

Although his mother's movements were very unnatural, Raymond didn't realize that he was too tired. He washed his hands with the water in the wooden bucket in the corner of the room, prayed insincerely, and sent the sliced ​​bread into the room. Soak in hot water for a while, ready to eat dinner.

"Raymond...what have you done today?" the old mother asked worriedly.

She saw the wound and frayed skin on her son's hand, and the blood had just scabbed over.

"What else can you do? Chopping trees, digging ditches, tying fences, and chopping wood, each of which must be done 10% of the time, and some must be overweight, otherwise it will be a severe beating." Raymond sighed: "Knight It is said that the master has left for something, and his housekeeper is even more vicious...Thank you madam, thanks madam Salia, I'm finally back alive, mother, what are you doing at home?"

"Me? I sew and mend... boil water to cook." The old mother's eyes shifted unnaturally.

"Where's Thomas?"

"Thomas is asleep," the old mother said quickly.

"...I've finished eating, what else?" Half of the brown bread was eaten by Raymond at a very fast speed. Even so, there was still a strong hunger in the serf's belly.

"Go and rest, it will be better if you fall asleep." The old mother shook her head silently.

Can't eat any more, really can't eat more.

Raymond didn't say more. He had to serve in labor tomorrow. The family put out the fire and rested early.

…………

The old mother lay on the bed, unable to sleep for a long time.

Since her husband died in the chivalry war five years ago, their family's life has been getting worse and worse. Before, they could barely guarantee food and clothing, but now they are hungry and full. Every time the harvest is between, the family often runs out of food. .

And worse yet to come.

The Knight Road War five years ago was said to be a complete victory, but none of the knights and soldiers of the Principality of Lyonasse came back, and the law and order became bad. Bandits and robbers were everywhere, and occasionally a small number of beastman tribes came out to look for it. winter food,

The robbers, bandits and beasts gradually left the forest and harassed the villages near the forest. Due to the poor harvest, the already shaky peace was severely damaged, and the dwindling garrison was transferred to the vicinity of the city and the noble manor to ensure the safety of the lord's property. The poor and powerless serfs were thrown at them.

Robbers and bandits are always rushing into the villages, looking for anything of value. Their favorite places are the houses where the villagers live and the taverns in the villages. Grain and ale.

If the serfs resisted, they would be killed. If they chose to flee, they would mostly starve to death in the wild or be hunted.

Several villages suffered a tragic fate.

The income source of the nobles has decreased, but their income cannot be decreased. Their luxurious banquets, high expenses and family children all require a lot of expenses. They will definitely not pay this money themselves, and they will end up in the end. on the heads of serfs.

So in addition to the ten taxes and nine, the serfs were also deprived of their rations. The tax collectors taught the serfs "this will make the kingdom better", and then mercilessly took most of the serfs' rations. .

Has the kingdom really gotten better? The old mother didn't know, she only knew that life was getting worse. The tax collectors came more diligently and asked more every time. Maybe they had already made up their minds for seed food.

At this moment, there was a slight noise in the quiet room.

The cold wind blew against the wooden windows and made a snoring sound, which greatly affected the old mother's hearing, but she had lived in this house for decades, and any noise could not hide her.

Raymond got up secretly, the serf dragged his tired body, he got up secretly in the dark, the eldest son swallowed hard, his stomach was growling.

He is so hungry.

The old mother didn't say a word, her eyes were full of tears, and she tried her best to cover her mouth to keep herself from making a little sound.

"Wow~" She heard the sound of Raymond flipping the bread basket, and the sound of the knife used to cut the bread being removed from the wall.

Then there was the sound of chewing, which should have been covered up by the wind, but for some reason, the old mother felt that she could hear it very clearly.

"Raymond, what's the matter? Did something happen?" The old mother finally decided to speak up. She choked up and said, "Why did you get up?"

"Ding!" The knife fell to the ground.

"I... I heard some wind noise... Check... Is the window closed?" Raymond was obviously startled when he heard his mother's voice, and there was a lot of panic in his voice: "In the village recently... food Not much, I'm worried that someone will come to steal... steal food."

The son had lied, and Raymond had lied to himself, just as he had lied to Raymond.

"If it's all right, go to rest early, you have to serve in labor tomorrow." There was a cry in the old mother's voice, and tears flowed down her wrinkled face.

"Mom!" Raymond didn't know that his behavior of stealing bread had been discovered by his mother, and the serf sobbed: "I'm sorry, Mom, I'm too hungry."

"I know, I know." The old mother also cried: "How will I live? The food is about to run out, and your brother is still starving."

"We farm, but their food is theirs, we hunt, but their prey is theirs, we fish, and their fish and shrimps are also theirs, Mom, during labor today, Arang's father was killed by a log because he was hungry. We're out of strength, we can't live this day!"

"Ah! Arang's father is dead? He is only thirty-five years old. Arang died of his mother early. How will he live the next day, he..."

Raymond thought again and again, and finally made up his mind: "Mom, let's escape, take Thomas, our family of three escapes, and escape far away, if we don't escape, we will starve to death, I overheard the knight today. According to the master's butler's instructions, this year's winter wheat will have to be taxed!"

"Ah? Do you want to increase taxes?" The sudden bad news made the old mother almost unable to breathe. With most of the rations being collected, does the lord still want to increase taxes? !

"Yes, this year's grain harvest is poor, and the lord may lose a lot of income, so the butler and the tax officer plan to continue to increase taxes, because the task left by the lord must be completed." Raymond hesitated, he said to his mother. : "Mom, there is no hope in the future, even if the winter wheat can be harvested, those things are not ours, not only are they not ours, we don't know where to get more grain, and those greedy tax officials will be satisfied. "

The dark room is like a **** hand, holding the necks of the poor, pressing them to breathe.

In the past, even if there was no food at home, the serfs could go to the forest to collect berries and try to hunt. The lords clearly stipulated that the serfs of rabbits and birds in the prey could hunt by themselves. In principle, berries were also owned by the lord, but most lords ignored it. With one eye closed, this day can still be lived.

But now the security is so poor, how dare the serfs enter the forest? If you are lucky, you will get food for a day or two. If you are lucky, you will never come back~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Escape? If you escape and get caught, you will die! Will be hanged by the knight master! "The old mother said hesitantly, "It's too dangerous, Raymond, how are we going to escape?" "

"...everyone is hungry, a lot of people are hungry, a lot of guys like me, guys with strength, guys who know how to use a dung fork and a hoe, mom." Raymond hesitated for a while, but decided to say: "Many boys have already There's nothing...the knights have food at home, lots of food, lots of people wanting a full meal, we smell bacon and butter, and we can get a full meal, they don't care, mom, you know I'm here Say what?"

"You mean, they're going to..." The old mother opened her mouth in surprise.

"Yes, so, this is an opportunity, we can escape, the butler's energy will be on those lads, no one will care about us, we can escape, no matter where we go, it's better than starving to death, Luck next door. Made an appointment with us. Tomorrow evening, those boys will rush into the house of the knight to find food, and we can take the opportunity to escape." Raymond gasped: "Mom, I have you and my brother, I can't follow Those lads go to riot, you will be implicated by me, we can't do nothing, let's run away, mother!"

"Be a fugitive slave...be a fugitive slave." The old mother muttered to herself.

"Mom! If we don't do anything, we will starve to death! I can't lose you and my brother. Tomorrow night, we will flee in the opposite direction. We will succeed. Tomorrow you pack up, boil water and cook for the whole family to eat. Once we're full, we'll run away!"

"Okay... okay."

…………

The next evening, a long-simmering riot finally ignited the village. I want to chat with more like-minded people about "", WeChat pays attention to "Youdu Literature", chats about life, and finds confidants~