Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 74
Xiao Yufang lifted the cloth covering the basket, and a tempting aroma wafted out: inside were a few flatbreads, ten large white steamed buns, and ten boiled eggs.She said softly: "You are in a hurry on the road, you must have not eaten breakfast, so I made some food for you, you bring it, you can fill your stomach on the road..."

Yang Menglong was so happy that he could not close his mouth from ear to ear: "Thank you, thank you so much!"

Xiao Yufang handed him the basket, then lowered her head and rubbed the hem of her clothes, and stopped talking.Yang Menglong quickly took out an egg, peeled off the shell and stuffed it into his mouth for a few bites. He gave Xiao Yufang a thumbs up: "Delicious! Your boiled eggs are still so delicious!"

Xiaojun snorted: "You have to eat every day, of course it's delicious, pity me, I don't even have to eat an egg shell!" That's a lot of resentment... Originally, one egg a day was his exclusive right Well, since Yang Menglong appeared, this privilege has been ruthlessly deprived by this bastard. This poor little guy hasn't eaten eggs boiled by his sister for almost a month.

Yang Menglong generously took one out of the basket and stuffed it into his hand: "Eat it."

Xiao Jun glared at him, and put the egg back: "My sister cooked it for you, I don't want it!" He gritted his teeth: "You ungrateful, heartless guy!"

In ancient times, "ungrateful, heartless and ungrateful" was already a very severe accusation, but unfortunately Yang Menglong came from the 21st century, grew up in various forms of national abuse, and his immunity was unparalleled, so he never let go. In my heart, I just wondered: "Why am I ungrateful and ruthless?"

Xiao Jun said loudly: "You still don't admit it? We rescued you when you were starving to death. Now that you are famous and talented, you have to leave us. Isn't this ungrateful? My sister..." Xiao Yufang She quickly covered his mouth, not letting him speak.

Yang Menglong said: "I didn't leave you guys behind, I just went to report to the Ministry of War, and I came back within ten days at most!" After thinking for a while, he said: "You saved me, and I must repay you. Stay here, don’t go anywhere, I’ll look for you as soon as I come back, okay?”

Xiao Jun broke away from her sister's hand and called, "Who cares that you repaid me!" The appearance of gnashing his teeth, blowing his beard and staring at his eyes seemed to have been greatly wronged.

Xiao Yufang said softly: "I saved you because I couldn't bear to see you starved to death by the side of the road, and I didn't want to repay you... Xiaojun is not sensible yet, so don't take his words to heart. In fact, you You saved my life for the first time, and you don’t owe me anything for a long time.”

Yang Menglong insisted: "No, the kindness of a drop of water should be repaid by a spring. This is my principle! You stay in the county seat and don't go anywhere. I will let Mr. Qi take care of you. I will go to you when I come back from the capital. Remember Stay, don't go anywhere!"

Xiao Yufang blushed even more, and said in a low voice, "I'm going back to Xiaojiazhuang after all..."

Yang Menglong said: "Then you have to wait until I come back before you go back, there is no need to discuss it!"

Xiao Yufang was a little annoyed: "Why are you so domineering!"

Yang Menglong said: "I'm so domineering. Anyway, before I come back, you can't go anywhere, just stay in the county! Don't worry about food. I left enough money for the old man. If you need money, you can ask him for it." !"

Is this the rhythm of having a mistress?

Xiao Yufang was about to fight back when Wu Yong's dead eunuch urged her: "Little General Yang, it's time to go!"

Yang Menglong muttered: "Um, I'm urging you, I'm going to kill you!" He said, "Here we come," and said to Xiao Yufang in a more serious tone: "I'm not allowed to leave the county before I come back. Remember, you're not allowed to leave the county!"

Xiao Yufang hesitated to speak, and finally turned into a helpless sigh: "I just don't want to leave... Be careful on the road, don't be brave when you meet Jiannu, just dodge if you can..."

Yang Menglong breathed a sigh of relief: "It's fine if you don't leave, it's fine if you don't leave!" Then he smiled triumphantly: "Even if you want to leave, you can't do it, hehe." He pinched Xiaojun's face and waved his hand, "I'm leaving, take care!"

Xiao Yufang bowed slightly, with an elegant demeanor: "Take care, we will meet later."

Yang Menglong ran back hurriedly with a basket full of food, jumped on his horse, and set off.

The Xiao family siblings watched him go away, and Xiao Jun reluctantly asked: "Sister, do you think he will come back?"

Xiao Yufang said: "He will come back." She answered simply, but her tone was not so confident, not confident in herself.

Yang Menglong ate three eggs in a row, and then took out a big steamed bun and gnawed on it. Seeing how delicious he was eating, Wu Yong felt a little hungry.This eunuch is in good shape, and instead of riding in a carriage, he rode a horse. He steered the horse alongside Yang Menglong, watched him gobble it up, and when he finished eating the steamed buns, he smiled and asked, "That woman just now is your confidant." ?”

Yang Menglong was stunned for a moment: "A confidant?" After two seconds, he understood what it meant, and said, "It's my friend, she saved my life, if it wasn't for her, I would have starved to death by the side of the road long ago .”

Wu Yong said: "It can be seen that she is a kind-hearted girl. The most rare thing is that she is so considerate. General Xiao Yang, it is not easy to find such a kind and beautiful woman these days. Cherish, cherish!"

Yang Menglong responded vaguely, took out another steamed bun and took a bite, what a foodie!
A group of people rushed towards the capital along the post road. From time to time along the way, they saw villages and towns turned into scorched earth. A little bit of belongings wandering around, looking for the slightest hope of survival, countless people died of cold and hunger, corpses looked at, mourning was everywhere, and skinny children were either planted with grass bones and sold as goods in exchange for a family. A few bites of rations to survive temporarily, or guarding the dead bodies of parents and calling for father and mother, those desperate calls pierced people's hearts like needles, and those dull and desperate eyes made people uncomfortable. Have the heart to see.The Hou Jin invaded like a fire. After several months of attack, blood flowed into rivers in the capital. There were more than [-] dead, and more than [-] were plundered as slaves. I don’t know how many families were broken because of them, and how many people died because of them. It is so sad to be born in troubled times after the blood is dried.All these incidents and scenes made Yang Menglong breathless, Fang Yizhi wept secretly, Wu Yong sighed, they all sympathized with these homeless refugees, but what could they do?Nothing can be done.

Yang Menglong thought to himself: "The capital city is like this, what will it be like in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Ningxia, Henan, etc.? I am afraid that even God can't bear to see it? I would rather be a peace dog than a troubled person. , this is really true!"

"To all the kind-hearted people passing by, please show mercy and buy this child. I kowtow to you!"

The convoy stopped when passing a post station.There were also a large number of hungry people gathered around the post station. One of the women was kneeling on the side of the road and kowtowing non-stop to the passing carriage. Her forehead was bleeding from the kowtow. A four or five-year-old girl had a grass bone in her hair. Kneeling beside the woman, a pair of eyes are black and white, big and round, full of curiosity.She still doesn't know how cruel this world is, but she just wonders why her mother kowtows to the passers-by so much that her forehead is bleeding, why no one stops to take a look.

By the way, there was a roll of straw mats in front of the mother and daughter, and it seemed that there was a person wrapped in it. It was so smelly, anyone who was not too stupid could guess what was wrapped in it.A postman walked over with a look of displeasure, and sternly shouted: "It's okay for you to be unlucky, don't pass on your bad luck to us, get out of here quickly, or I will break your legs!"

The woman seemed to be numb, and she didn't seem to hear it at all, and kept kowtowing at Fang Yizhi's carriage, which was twenty or thirty steps away from her: "My lord, please buy this child, I'll give it to you!" Kowtow, I kowtow to you..."

The postman got angry and cursed: "Mother, are you pretending to be stupid? Get out of here!" As he spoke, he raised his foot and kicked the woman, knocking her down, but the woman struggled and got up again.The postman got even angrier and wanted to kick again. The little girl hurriedly threw herself on her mother, using her small body to protect her mother, glaring at the postman, her voice was clear and angry: "You...you are not allowed to bully my mother!"

The postman shouted: "Hurry up and get out, or I will beat you together!"

Yang Menglong jumped off the horse and ran over, raised his hand and swept the postman aside, looked at the woman, saw her complexion was sallow, skinny, and there was clearly a corpse wrapped in the straw mat, he couldn't help frowning, and asked: " what happened?"

The postman originally wanted to get angry, but when he saw that Yang Menglong was well dressed and had a knife on him, he was obviously not a casual person, so he immediately put on a smiling face and said, "My lord, you don't know, this bitch is crazy, and she spends all day with her." A dead man came here, asking someone to buy her daughter and give her money to keep her husband’s corpse. She came here every day for more than ten days! At the beginning, we just turned a blind eye and closed our eyes, but now the corpse It stinks and she still comes, isn't that trying to put bad luck on us! The little one has no choice but to drive her away..."

Yang Menglong looked at the woman's bloody forehead, and frowned even tighter: "It's been more than ten days, and no one is willing to help her? Even if one person gives a copper coin, it's enough for her to restrain the dead!"

The postman smiled wryly: "Where can you find such a kind person these days? Those who have no money have no intentions, and those who have money just pretend that they don't see it, so they can only be wasted like this."

The woman kowtowed numbly and repeated mechanically: "Master, please show mercy and buy this child. I kowtow to you..." It seemed that this was all she could say.

Fang Yizhi called over there: "Menglong, let's go!" His voice was clearly trembling.

Yang Menglong ignored him, squatted down, and asked the little girl, "What's your name?"

The little girl looked at Yang Menglong timidly, seeing that he didn't look like a bad guy, she felt relieved, and said crisply: "My name is Erya, I'm from Zunhua, last year the bad guys came and killed a lot of people. After escaping, the bad guys were chasing after us. We had no choice but to keep running. After we ate all the food, my father and my brother fell ill again, so we couldn’t escape... One day when my brother went out at night, he I can't find it anymore. My father cried for several days, then fell asleep and never woke up again. My mother said that my father was dead and wanted to let him go to the ground, but she didn't have money to buy a coffin. She wanted to give me to a Well-meaning people exchange money to bury father..."

After all, it was the sins of those bandits again.Seeing this cleanly washed little girl with grass bones stuck in her hair, Yang Menglong's nose ached and she felt like crying.The little girl tugged at the corner of his clothes, looked up at him, her little face was full of hope: "Brother, can you take me away? If you take me away, my mother won't have to kneel here again." Kowtow to people non-stop!"

Before Yang Menglong could speak, the woman hugged his leg and said in a wailing voice, "Master, please buy this girl. Although she is young, she is very sensible and never makes people angry. What kind of work is that?" I will help, and I will be able to work in two years... You don't need to give her money, just have a bowl of rice to eat, please take her away, please, please!"

Yang Menglong sniffed, took out the money bag, and poured out a small pile of copper coins and broken silver from it. After calculation, there was four or five taels of silver, and then touched the other pockets, and there was nothing.He stuffed the money into the woman's hands: "That's all, the rest are ten taels and 20 taels of silver ingots. If you give it to you, it will only be snatched away by others, which is not good. This money should be enough I have bought a coffin, use it for your husband's funeral."

The woman was overjoyed and kowtowed even harder: "Thank you son, thank you son! Erya, quickly kowtow to son, you will be his man from now on, no matter what he says, you have to listen, you understand?"

Er Ya seemed to understand, and was about to kowtow, but Yang Menglong stopped her and said, "No need, I'm not going to buy her, I just want to help you."

The woman froze for a moment.

Yang Menglong took out the last egg that he didn't have time to eat and stuffed it into Erya's hand: "Take it and eat it. You must live well and listen to your mother, you know?"

Erya took the egg, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and looked at her mother with a greedy face, as if she wanted to ask her opinion.Yang Menglong straightened up and said, "Hurry up and make arrangements for the funeral, let the deceased be buried in peace as soon as possible, don't delay any longer... What are you doing!" Before he could finish speaking, the woman hugged his leg again, crying more sad.

"Master, you are a good person, but if you really want to help me, please take this child away! She still can't survive if she stays with me!"

Yang Menglong shouted in surprise: "I took her away, what will you do?"

The woman smiled miserably: "My father-in-law and mother-in-law were burned to death by the slaves, my son was captured, and my man died. In this world, there is no hope for anyone to survive. I have struggled so much. It's been a long time, I'm really scared, and I'm tired, very tired, but the man hasn't been laid to rest yet, and this girl can't leave him alone, so I just grit my teeth and hold on until now."

Yang Menglong was frightened when he heard this: "You haven't told me what you plan to do yet!"

The woman pointed to the corpse wrapped in the straw mat and said calmly, "I don't want to stay in this world to suffer like this anymore, I will go down to accompany him."

The little girl looked confused, she was too young to understand these things.But Yang Menglong only felt cold all over, because the woman's voice and her eyes had no trace of life, and her heart was dead.A person who can say "I'll go down with him" in such a calm, calm and inconceivable tone is not brave, but tragic!He shouted urgently: "Don't! If I give you some more money, you can find another place to settle down, and you will find a way to survive. Don't give up on yourself! If it doesn't work, just follow me and help me wash clothes and do laundry. When the meal is ready, people always find a way to survive!"

The woman still shook her head: "Thank you, sir, for your kindness, but I really don't have the energy to continue struggling. I beg you to be merciful and take this girl away, so that I won't suffer more than ten years."

Yang Menglong felt suffocated and breathless: "You...you decided?"

The woman nodded slightly.

Yang Menglong knew that there was no way to persuade him anymore, so he endured his sadness and said: "Then you go, I will treat this child as my sister, and I will not let her suffer."

The woman kowtowed her head three times and said, "Young master is truly a bodhisattva. I will be a cow and a horse in my next life to repay your kindness!" Pulling her daughter over, she said, "Ah, from now on, you will follow this young master, and be well-behaved." One point, he is a good man and will not let you suffer, but if you are disobedient, he may not want you, understand?"

The little girl seemed to understand and said: "Erya knows, Erya will definitely listen to the young master, work hard, and never make him angry. Mother, will you come and see Erya?"

The woman forced a smile: "Yes, mother will go to see Erya when she is free."

The little girl said: "You must come!"

The woman said: "I will definitely go." She gently pushed her into Yang Menglong's arms: "Let's go quickly, the young master's companions are all impatient."

Indeed, Wu Yong and the others were impatient to wait.Yang Menglong led the little girl over, carried her onto the horse, and rode on the road.The little girl turned her head every three steps, while the woman knelt there and kowtowed to Yang Menglong's back. After walking a few hundred steps, the little girl burst into tears and yelled at her mother, who was left with only a faint shadow, with all her strength. With a hiss, "Mother, you must come and see Er Ya!"

There was no reply from there, and I don't know if I didn't hear it. Presumably the woman who has experienced all the hardships and bitterness of the world is still kneeling there and continuing to kowtow?She kowtowed countless times in the past ten days, but this time she did it willingly.Soon she will no longer have to kneel and kowtow, she will go to another world with her husband, hoping that there will be no war, no famine in that world, and everyone can live on.

Wu Yong saw all this in his eyes and said nothing, not knowing what he was thinking.

Yang Menglong wiped away the tears from the little girl's face and said, "Erya, I will call you An Ning from now on."

Erya is still crying, she still can't understand the meaning of the word "tranquility", if she can understand, she will probably say that this is simply an extravagant wish.

When will there be peace in this troubled world?

When will those Limin people who are struggling to survive in the troubled times be at peace?

(End of this chapter)