butcher's little man

In July, the sun is like a fire.

People are busy in the fields, hoping to add some rations to their families.

This year the weather is not good, there is no water in the fields, and it is difficult for the rice to survive.Fortunately, there are some crops that can adapt to the water-scarce environment, and they can harvest some at least, so they won't starve to death.

The sky in the distance suddenly turned cloudy, and when people were still happy that it was about to rain, someone suddenly looked panicked and shouted, "What do you see? How can it move!"

Everyone looked up, and the "dark cloud" in the distance was getting closer and closer, and people could see it more clearly. Finally, a trembling voice sounded, "Locusts! It's locusts!"

At this moment, the despair on people's faces was clearly visible, they didn't even have time to move, the overwhelming locusts were already raging in the fields, enjoying the feast wantonly.

People suddenly reacted and swat the locusts in panic.However, the locusts here could not be easily culled. Dozens of locusts clung to a small seedling at the same time, and within a short while, only a short branch remained.

About a quarter of an hour later, these locusts flew away in groups, leaving only a bare piece of land.

"Oh my God! Is this not giving us a way to live?" An old man's face was full of ditches, the years had carved deep marks on his face, his cloudy eyes were filled with tears, and the hope of a year was cut off at this moment up.

Not only him, but all the people who have experienced the locusts have only one thought in their hearts, is it because God will not give them a way out?

Not everyone is like the Tian family and the Li family, who can live without the fields.Most families pin their hopes on the land they depend on for a living.This locust plague finally became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

When the locusts attacked, Tian Xiaoman and the others were eating at home, only to feel that the originally clear sky suddenly darkened, and then Grandpa Li jumped up from his seat and quickly closed the doors and windows.After a while, only countless rustling voices were heard.

"What's wrong?" Tian Xiaoman felt very strange.

"The locusts are coming!" Father Li looked serious, while Aunt Li looked pale.

"Plague of locusts!" Li Wenxuan exclaimed.

"Yeah..." Li Amu suddenly remembered that year, when he was a teenager, he experienced a plague of locusts. At that time, the overwhelming locusts covered the entire sky, and they wantonly gnawed on the ground. Crops, no one knows what to do with them.

After the locusts left, the people were in dire straits, and it happened from time to time to change their children to eat. The court also thought of a way, but it still couldn't avoid the tragedy of starvation everywhere.

After listening to Li Amu's description, Tian Xiaoman hugged Le Ge'er and Xiao Tuanzi tightly. He couldn't imagine how helpless people were for such a thing to happen.Both Tuanzi and Le Geer were still very young, they didn't know why the door was closed, and they didn't understand the reason for the stern expression on the adult's face.

"Really?" Le Ge'er felt a little uncomfortable being hugged.

Tian Xiaoman came back to his senses, let go of Le Geer, and forced a smile to Le Geer who didn't know why.

Li Wenxuan also sensed that something was wrong with him, and stretched out a hand to hold his hand, "It's okay Xiaoman, I will guard our home."

The sky gradually brightened again, and Li Wenxuan opened the window only to see the scene of locusts flying away.He smiled wryly, and the few trees in the yard became bare, without a single green leaf left.

Xiaotuanzi was carried out by his mother, and looked at everything in front of him in surprise, with his mouth wide open and his eyes wide open.

……

Now everyone has to live on last year's grain, but not everyone has accumulated grain.

Whoever has a surplus in the village will borrow it if they really have no choice, and promise to pay it back immediately when there is new food next year, but no one knows what will happen next year.

In the beginning, some people would lend food out of face, but later the situation became more and more serious, and they couldn't help being kind, after all, they needed it too.

As a relatively wealthy family, the Li family had people coming to borrow food twice in three days. Several pigs they raised had already been killed, because there would be no food to feed them without killing them.

The meat was distributed equally to the people in the village. If they didn't give anything, they didn't know what the people who were driven to despair would do.

People are like this, as long as there is a glimmer of hope, they will stick to it, but when they find that there is no more, they will lose their minds and become crazy.

In order not to attract so much attention, Li Amu usually digs wild roots like everyone else, and Tian Xiaoman usually keeps Brother Le from running out.

Li Wenxuan and Li's father always had to stay alone at home, in case anyone saw that there were only brothers and children intruding in.What they are wary of is not the people in their own village, but the refugees from outside.

According to them, the traffic here in Anyang County is relatively good, and the situation in other places is even more miserable.They couldn't survive, so they had to leave their homes and flee to other places.

A few days ago, a group of refugees arrived at Liushupo somehow, and because of the large number of people, they didn't notify the village, and lived directly at the entrance of the village.

Most of the refugees are young and middle-aged, and the elderly and children generally die on the way to flee famine.There are also men in the village, but everyone is old and young. It is really not worth fighting with them, so the two parties are living in peace.

Li Yiran heard the news of the severe drought in Anyang County in the court hall. At that time, his whole body was cold and his heart was full of unspeakable fear.

Although he has not experienced drought, he has read many of the historical records of the Imperial Academy.Father and mother, they don't know what's going on now.

He and Li Wenxuan exchanged letters once every two months, but this kid reported good news but not bad news, so we must teach him a lesson when we meet!

In fact, Li Wenxuan was also wronged, because the previous drought did not have any impact on them. What was terrible was the drought that happened later!