Daming prepares the emperor

The cavalry moved forward all the way, and wherever he passed, people couldn't help shrinking their bodies, and they didn't stand upright until he was far away.

"Master Xu, I'm leaving!"

The man squatting on the ground slowly raised his head.He is a bit older, with gray hair, gray beard, and wrinkled face. He is the most obedient and timid of these groups of migrant workers. If human courage can be described by water, then he That drop of water evaporates before it falls.

He has to think about his daughter, if she can't go back alive, she will be forced by the clan to marry a local ruffian.

"Thank you." Master Xu said, "He probably won't come again for a while."

"Who says it is not? This slave who committed crimes, he is a dog of Ma Jian! Ma Jian dares to tell him to eat shit!"

The man who helped Mrs. Xu stared, as if he could tear the back apart with his gaze: "If I don't have parents, wives and children to support, it must be the opposite. Put him in the pigsty."

Mrs. Xu is indeed a master. He has been educated, educated, and looks like a Confucian scholar. Logically speaking, he shouldn't be here. It's a pity that his family is too poor to make connections. Because there is something other than money to let people go.

Everything is inferior, but the idea of ​​high-level reading has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people for thousands of years. Although the current imperial court does not pay attention to this, the migrant workers respect Mr. Xu, love to chat with him, and help him as much as they can.

Mrs. Xu is a little noble, he doesn't think much of the people around him, but in order to fit in with the group and survive, he suppresses the poor spirit of the literati and doesn't show it.

"Well, it's better to talk about it in private." Mr. Xu said, "I hope that one day the river will be healed and I will go back soon. Even if I can't afford food or clothes, it's better than throwing my life away."

The man felt that he was cowardly, but he couldn't refute anything, so he changed the subject: "Master, why don't you say that no one objected? I heard that the White Lotus Sect has uprisings everywhere, why don't we have any here?"

"People's hearts are like water and smoke, so how can uprising be simple?"

"What's the difficulty? The big guys go together, can they stop it?"

Mrs. Xu thought of a metaphor for him: "Let's put it this way, you told me about your family, just because your wife and your mother had conflicts, you got dizzy and panicked. With so many people, you How to encourage it?"

"This... also." The man said, "But I can't, there must be someone who can?"

"It's difficult. It's too difficult to find such a person." Xu Fuzi said, "But it's too soon to think about it. Isn't there a folk song circulating? Stone people or something, just bear with it."

"Forbearance? Forbearance for what? You bear and I bear, everyone is so patient, does anyone dare to stand up!" The man's face slowly flushed, "Although I haven't studied, I also know that the truth in the world is not tolerance!"

"Then why don't you go?"

"I, I have the old and the young!"

"That's right." Master Xu said, "Others are just like you!"

The man froze for a while, then slowly lowered his head.

The sun gradually became lighter, the sun set behind the mountain, and the sky was covered with stars.

On the ground, silt covered the ground, and people spread on the silt, but the rice in the pot was not like them.

After receiving two bowls of gruel and three or four steamed buns with mixed noodles, the man sat down with Master Xu to rest.

The imperial court is very experienced in dealing with peasant uprisings, and it would not have allowed the common people to gather, but the Yellow River disaster was too serious, so there was no way.

The officials below never cared about the orders given by the court, and acted according to their own wishes as usual, greedy for ink, and extortionate.However, they are also afraid of an uprising, because they will be the first to lose their heads in an uprising.

Therefore, the patrol on the river is very strict. The reason Master Xu can sit with the man is because the soldiers in charge of this area have been lazy.

It was the soldier who whipped Wang Liuqiyi. He had a good relationship with the petty officials in the Hedao Yamen, he was not criticized, he was lazy, and he went to bed early at night, unknowingly giving the migrant workers a chance to relax.

"One meal a day, how can I have the strength to work." The man licked the bottom of the bowl clean, but his stomach was still terribly empty.

With the help of the faint firelight, he saw a tall shadow not far away pressing a short shadow to the ground, punching it a few times with his fist, and snatching something away.

Mrs. Xu also saw it, and trembled visibly with the naked eye.

"He's going to die again." The man sighed.

The meaning is very clear.

Not everyone is like a man, unwilling to bully others. People who don't have enough to eat will have bad ideas, and those who accept bad ideas will be unlucky.The unlucky result was either beaten to death or starved to death.

Which result is more liberating?

One of the reasons Mr. Xu is willing to make friends with the man is that he can't beat anyone, and the man is big and muscular and can protect him.

"If only you were an official, we can escape."

"Han officials? Are you kidding me?" Xu Fuzi said, "The imperial examination is useless, and the selection of talents pays attention to blood and family. This is the world of the Mongols."

"Those officials who help to suppress the anti-people are not treated as well as the rebels who were recruited. Whoever wants to be promoted will have to pay. Let alone me, Zhuge can only go to the warehouse when he is alive!"

"..." The man was speechless, and suddenly remembered something, "I heard that the one on the horse's arrow is actually not a Mongolian, and his birth name is Liu Sheng."

"There are people like this. They look like Mongolians, and they can become officials if they falsely report their hometown."

"Why didn't you make a false report?"

"It's not that I haven't tried it." Mrs. Xu is not afraid of him saying that he is hypocritical, "I don't have money, and I can't be an official if I apply."

They fell silent, and after a while Master Xu read a poem.

"The cold is warm in the south of the Yangtze River, and the hunger is full in the south of the Yangtze River. Don't know the evil in the south of the Yangtze River, but you must know the south of the Yangtze River..."

Before finishing the poem, he hid under the broken canopy and fell asleep.

The man followed suit, and just as he was about to close his eyes, a pair of hands grabbed his legs.

When he started work on the second day, Mrs. Xu noticed that the man looked a little excited and was always distracted when doing things. Asking about the situation, there was no good opportunity to chat like yesterday, so let it go.

On the third day, Master Xu didn't lower his head in time and was whipped by the soldier.

On the fourth day, Mrs. Xu had a high fever, lost consciousness, and the wound festered. The man brought boiled herbs and poured it on him. The dead horse was used as a live horse doctor.

On the fifth day, Mrs. Xu woke up and found that many people around him had expressions similar to those of the man. They didn't speak much, and they were mysterious all day long.

On the evening of the sixth day, Mrs. Xu faintly noticed that the man got up in the middle of the night, thinking that he was going to pee, but he didn't make a sound.

On the morning of the seventh day, a small official came to the river.

It's strange, it's still not dawn, how can there be officials who get up early?What is to be announced now?

Master Xu staggered and followed the crowd, looking for the man as he walked. A large group of migrant workers gathered in one place, and the smell of earth and sweat was particularly pungent.There was neither laughter nor voice in the crowd. It was as dull as the night before a rainy day, depressing and damp.They rushed to a high platform and looked up at the people above.

This person is Ma Jian, with thin face and thin body, pointed eyes, yellow and black complexion, with his hands behind his back, he walked up the temporary wooden platform as if he was about to receive some prize, he glanced around, but he couldn't see anything.

Ma Jian thinks that He should be a prime minister based on his own ability, but the current situation is just that the pearl is dusty and no one appreciates it, so he doesn't like anyone and is impatient to say anything.He also believes that people whose officials are smaller than him are air.Because of his humble status and no rank relationship, the atmosphere can only be ordinary people, which makes him even more arrogant towards a large number of migrant workers.

"Come on, bring the rebels up!"

A dozen soldiers escorted one person up each.

"Kneel down."

They each kicked, and the men fell to their knees.

"Last night." Ma Jian said, "Some people rebelled! This is a joke. You are here to control the river. The merits of the present age will benefit the future! You can eat and drink every day, and there are adults sent by the court to protect you from the bandits. Why are you dissatisfied with being invaded by the people? Look at these bastards! There is no way out for rebellion!"

What he said was like thunder in Mrs. Xu's ears, with a huge sense of shock, but there was only movement but not in his heart.He only heard the voice, but couldn't hear the content, and stared at the kneeling man on the stage with his mouth wide open.

The man's face was covered with blood, and his right hand was missing. When he realized Mrs. Xu was looking at him, he smiled at him and mouthed a word.

"Okay! You have to work obediently! After a while, you will be able to return home with rewards from the court. At that time, you can buy land, build a house, and get married! If you start a rebellion, there is only one end!"

Satisfied with Ma Jian's speech, he said to the officers and soldiers, "You guys, please do it."

These people are not big officials, but he is always very polite to the person with the knife in his hand.

laugh--

The blood was steaming, flowing down the platform, dripping and staining the red and yellow mud.

Master Xu didn't know why he didn't close his eyes, he followed in a daze, and he followed in a daze, the cold wind blew over with the smell of wet blood, weaving through the gaps in the crowd.

"Are you well?" one asked.

"What's going on here?" Mrs. Xu is very timid and doesn't want to meddle in his own business. He thinks that the more he meddles, the faster he dies, the more he hears, the easier it is to be afraid, but how can a man...

"Let's revolt!" the man said, "The man in the middle of the stage is called Wang Liuqi. He heard from them that he belongs to the White Lotus Sect. He has brought many people to see the stone man these days. He came back after seeing the stone man and made an appointment to rebel. , just last night!"

"Stone man?"

"Stimulate the world to rebel!" He whispered, "It's just a one-eyed stone man! To tell you the truth, I also went to see it!"

"Yeah." Mrs. Xu nodded indiscriminately, "Stone man, I know, stone man."

"Then Wang Liuqi had internal support and brought out a lot of weapons. It's a pity that someone told Ma Jian, and he told Liu Sheng that he had transferred troops from the barracks overnight, and the water hadn't turned up, and many people died!"

Master Xu remembered the man's last words, he said——

"You and that guy on the stage have a good relationship, I see you two are always together." The man continued, "Be careful next time, if you don't know, they will cut off your head."

Mrs. Xu shuddered, and his thoughts escaped from the memory: "No way, I don't know anything."

"Why not? Have you seen anything these days? People who died of starvation, people who died of thirst, people who died of exhaustion, people who were beaten to death, people who died of pain... what else is new?"

"……you're right."

"Ah." The man said, "To be honest, if you stay on this river, you will end up playing sooner or later, and you will die sooner or later. But when it comes to rebellion, I dare not. Not only do I dare not, but I also advise others not to go, so as not to hurt me. .”

While Mrs. Xu empathized with his feelings, his heart ached intensely. His guts seemed to be gradually cracked, and the courage of a dead man was poured in, so he said something that his former self would never have said: "We persuade them Don't go, it's as if if they don't go, we can live!"

The Yellow River was rushing, and Master Xu followed it with his eyes. He pretended to be full of poems describing the magnificence of the river on weekdays, but now he couldn't recite a single one.

He saw a black void, nothing in the void, everything was empty, including himself, this timid skin.

Mr. Xu, who has a little more knowledge than the migrant workers, understands that after the nonsensical meeting in the morning, it is extremely difficult to think about the uprising.

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The poem is "Autumn Geese" by Jie Msi