I, Zhu Youjian: the first prodigal son of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 101 The kindness of a handful of rice

Phi Island is bleak.

Hunger, like a nightmare, came to Dongjiang Town again.

In the last month of the first year of Chongzhen, which is what people in the Central Plains call the twelfth lunar month, when the idiot emperor Zhu Youjian hid in the deep palace for a day and a night, starving men could be seen everywhere in Dongjiang Town.

What a good soldier, even though he was so hungry that he couldn't get up, he still held the swords and guns used to kill the enemy tightly in his arms, and refused to let go of them.

For nearly a month, these seven-foot men fought back wave after wave of Jiannu cavalry attacks.

Blood flowed, sweat flowed.

Now, it's time to cry.

Yes, the tears of humiliation, the tears of despair.

They didn't fall on the way to charge, but now, they can only lean on the rough streets and under the eaves, looking at the light blue sky half dead.

The seabirds are flying 'ahhh', are they also looking for a bite of food?
The imperial court obviously allocated double the food and payment, but when they arrived at Phi Island, there was less than [-]% left.

The [-] army, people eat horse chews, the daily consumption is simply too terrible.

In particular, the nearly [-] refugees, former fishermen, merchants, etc. who fled into Dongjiang Town have made the food and grass supply of Phi Island worse.

Especially when Jiannu's [-] cavalry broke through Yanzhou and Tieshan, and hundreds of warships blocked the sea, the always docile King of Koryo stabbed the Ming army in Pidao in the back.

The supply of food and grass that was supposed to arrive on time every month had been delayed three months ago with various excuses. Now it seems that there is clearly the evil intention of colluding with Jiannu to kill Pidao.

What made Mao Wenlong of Pidao most desperate was that the double payment agreed by the imperial court was also "misappropriated" by the Yamen of the governor of Jiliao and the governor of Denglai for various reasons...

……

It's freezing cold, starving everywhere.

In less than three to five days, people will starve to death one after another. At that time, is it going to be like the Battle of Iron Mountain in the second year of Tianqi, guarding the isolated city and fighting against corpses?

On Ximen Street, there were a row of more than a dozen taverns that used to be quite lively, but now it is completely dead.

When the famine broke out, the hardest-hit places were these small restaurants with a little food stock. Once the riots were over, not a single blade of grass would grow.

Even a few large vats in the tavern were not spared. They were smashed by a group of hungry and red-eyed Ming soldiers. They pouted their buttocks, half knelt on the ground, put their heads into the half of the rotten vat, and licked it carefully. again.

After all, it is the essence of food, even if you taste it, it seems that you can be full for most of the day...

In a small tavern named 'Sister Restaurant', in a dark corner, an old soldier with frost on his temples sat upright, looking out the window at the messy streets and alleys, expressionless.

Sitting opposite the old soldier was a woman in her thirties. She tidied things up fairly neatly. The plate with a big face, which was originally white and rich, was now starved of food, glowing a faint turquoise.

This is a very obvious expression after drinking too much soup made from weeds and linden bark.

On Phi Island, this dish can be seen everywhere.

The woman is the proprietress of the tavern, surnamed Qin, who escaped from Liaodong three years ago. Her father-in-law, mother-in-law, man and child died on the way.

A large family, when they came to Phi Island, only one sister was left to depend on each other.

Now, my younger sister is starving and unable to get up on the bed. In three or two days, it is estimated that she will have to be dragged out and thrown on the street, so that the soldiers who are responsible for moving the corpses will be dragged to the south of the city and burned intensively.

"Aren't you going to defend the city?"

After holding back for a long time, the woman asked weakly: "I heard that the city was besieged by the slaves, and Marshal Mao personally sat at the head of the city. You old soldier came here to be lazy, so don't cause any trouble."

"Haven't you two had porridge for a few days?" The old soldier said in an irrelevant answer.

"I haven't seen food for nearly 20 days." When the woman spoke, there was a 'sizzling' inhalation sound from her puffy chest, "I drank wild grass soup for fourteen days.

Now that the hay was gone, the lindens were boiled. "

"You have to defend the city. After building slaves and destroying the city, the city will often be massacred. You guys are better off. It's a big deal. We women will suffer a great crime..."

The woman struggled to speak, but the old soldier shook his head and said calmly, "Dongjiang Town, we can't break it."

"Even if the city is to be destroyed, all the men must die."

The woman stopped talking.

No matter how many words are said now, it is actually useless. How many days can this Dongjiang town hold on without food and grass?
"Go, boil this handful of rice, you sisters, breathe a sigh of relief." Suddenly, the old soldier reached into his bosom, took out a small cloth bag, and threw it to the woman.

"Oh my god... it's really rice!" The woman opened the small cloth bag, only took a look, and both eyes stared straight.

Inside the cloth bag, golden and shining, is a handful of millet!
"This... this is really rice, where did you get it?"

The woman held the cloth bag tightly in her hand, couldn't help sticking it to her swollen chest, slowly closed her eyes, and said in a harsh voice, "I can't take this rice...

You'd better take it back and let the sister-in-law and the children breathe a sigh of relief.

In the past two years, you have helped a lot, brother, I can't take this handful of rice! "

The woman put the small cloth pouch under her nose, took a deep breath twice, and handed it over quickly.

The old soldier didn't reach out to pick it up, he said calmly: "My family is so hungry that there is only one daughter left. I left a handful of rice for her."

While talking, the old soldier took out another small cloth bag from his bosom, let the woman take a look, stuffed it into his bosom again, and said: "I should go, I guess in two hours, the slave cavalry will come again The city is under siege."

As he spoke, he walked towards the door of the tavern.

The woman silently accepted a handful of millet and was about to speak when seven or eight soldiers burst in from outside and pushed the old soldier aside, making it difficult to go out for a while.

These soldiers were young, about sixteen or seventeen years old. As soon as they entered the door, they began to curse and turn around.

"Sun Chengzong of the dog day, hiding behind the Shanhai Pass, eats delicious food and drinks spicy food, starving us to death!"

"It's not that Grand Marshal Sun withheld food and pay. I heard that Denglai Governor Wang Ting tried that bastard who sold our food and salary from Pidao to Marshal Sun."

"What the hell, Grand Marshal Sun is still Governor Wang, the same breed!"

"Hey, lady, do you have gruel or something, let us have a sip so we can go to the top of the city to fight?"

"I haven't dipped a grain of rice in six days, I'm so hungry that I can't shoot..."

The soldiers staggered from hunger, but they were young after all. Although their faces were green from the soup made from weeds and linden bark, their mouths never stopped, and they kept swearing.

"Several military lords, look at my face, do you seem to have food?"

The woman silently threw the small cloth pouch containing a handful of rice on the ground, and calmly pushed it into a pile of rotten porcelain with her feet, stretched out her hand to straighten the messy hair on her temples, and said with a wry smile: "It is estimated that the In Dongjiang Town, there is no grain of rice now, right?"

"If you run a tavern, why don't you hide a few catties of rice?"

"Or, it's okay to get us half a bowl of wine to drink, I heard that the thing is brewed from grain, and it should be able to hang your life.

Soon, the atmosphere in the tavern became a little weird.

Quiet, ambiguous and dangerous.

"Several military masters..." The woman noticed that there was something strange in the atmosphere, and she couldn't help turning her head to look at the old soldier.

I saw him standing by the door, looking out indifferently, clearly as if he had nothing to do with him.

For some reason, the woman breathed a sigh of relief.

Those who are in chaos, and those who stand out for others often don't live long.

"Masters, I really don't have a grain of food here. I'm so hungry that I can't get up..." The woman took a step back slowly and said sideways.

The hungry faces of those soldiers turned green, but at this moment, even the eyes seemed to start to emit a faint green light.

"My lord, I might die at the head of the city today, but I'm still a young chicken..." A soldier licked his chapped lips, took a step closer, and suddenly grinned:

"I'll call you mother and let me suck on your milk, okay?"

(End of this chapter)