The common people are unwilling to travel long distances. When they are not full to eat, it is even more impossible to find the foot strength to travel. Horses are military supplies, and people cannot buy them even if they have money. The people traveled on two legs.
Countless people in Haozhou embarked on the road of exile one after another.
It would be better if there were still men at home. You could pull a wooden cart, the women would push in the back, the men would pull in front, and the children would follow the cart.
If there are no males and only females in the family, you can only escape in light clothes. If you don’t bring clothes, you can bring some dry food and fire.
Among the people who fled from Haozhou, there were not one out of ten males.
The officials naturally found out that they sent troops to block people at the gates out of the city, and they could not let them out.
If a woman wants to go out, she can keep her eyes open. It is good for less people to consume food, but not for men.
Men can farm the land, strike iron, and serve as soldiers. Even if they are weak, they can also serve as auxiliary soldiers. In short, they are useful everywhere.
So the women escaped more smoothly, they gathered together, warmed each other, and walked towards the unknown front.
Yang Rong's family was also stuck on the only way out of the city. The men were driven into a temporary fence, like cattle and horses. They were surrounded by soldiers. Their heads were chopped off.
They sat on the ground, and the people around them were similar to them, sitting in place like stray dogs.
The female relatives of the Yang family were outside and had not left. They were waiting for their husband and son.
"Master Bing, Master Bing." Yang Da's wife begged Xiao Bing, who was about the same age as her son. She knelt down on her knees and grabbed Xiao Bing's trouser legs, "We are all good people, just want to go out of the city to see relatives, Soldier!"
She kowtowed to the soldier.
Xiao Bing looked less than fourteen years old, but his skin was abnormally rough and his face was abnormally flushed. He looked at Yang Da's wife and remembered his own mother, so he whispered, "This is the adults' business, no dead."
Yang Da's wife looked at him in confusion.
Xiao Bing added: "...either as a soldier or as a coolie."
Yang Da's wife felt that the sky in front of her was getting dark.
Whether it's a soldier or a coolie, it's a dead end. You can't go home when you're a soldier, unless you're disabled, but what should you do if you're disabled? The family can't afford it, and it's not dead.
To be a coolie is to work until you die.
When Yang Da's wife returned to her family, her sister-in-law and mother-in-law came to ask her.
"What did you say? What did the soldier say? When did you let them out?"
Yang Da's wife was still in a trance.
Her mother-in-law scolded her: "I usually talk more than anyone else, why have you become a mumbling gourd now? Did you not kowtow just now?! You kowtow! Break your head! The soldier will definitely answer you!"
Yang Da's wife shuddered. She lowered her head and said with tears in her eyes, "The soldier said that they should either be soldiers or coolies."
The female relatives were speechless for a while, and it took some time before someone let out a low sob.
Even her mother-in-law couldn't say a word.
"what should we do?"
A female relative asked.
Yang Da's wife sniffed: "Stay, or go."
Her mother-in-law said at this time: "You go, I will stay."
"Mother-in-law!"
"Mother-in-law, I'll stay. You go with the sister-in-law and the others. The sister-in-law and the others have babies. I don't have one. I'll stay with my family."
The mother-in-law shook her head and said, "I'm old and can't walk that long, you listen to me, take the children away, raise them well, and tell them not to forget their own fathers, I can't control whether you remarry in the future. But you can't forget the blood of our Yang family's blood! Otherwise, I won't be able to close my eyes even if I die!"
The female relatives hugged and cried, leaving only an old woman, and then left the sad place with the children.
The boys were dressed as girls, but fortunately they were so young that they couldn't tell the difference unless they took off their trousers.
Yang Da and the others were also watching from a distance, watching the women cry, and watching the women go.
Yang Rong smiled aside: "Fortunately, the children can walk."
Yang Si, the youngest son, said, "I don't have a son yet!"
No one pays attention to him.
The children were led by their mother, and the youngest asked, "Mother, where is your grandmother?"
The woman bit her lip and said, "Grandma is waiting for your father and grandfather to go with them."
The child opened his innocent eyes: "Then why don't we wait?"
The woman said reluctantly: "You will know when you grow up."
These words are often used to coax children, and children don’t believe it even if they are coaxed a lot. Although children are small, they can also feel the emotions of adults, and their keen intuition will make them stop and ask further questions.
Yang Da and the others were detained for three days, and during these three days, people were pulled in one after another.
I don't know how many times it is.
They even met a few acquaintances, and they also discovered that the soldiers didn't care what they were doing or saying, as long as they honestly didn't want to run away, they wouldn't come to trouble them easily.
After waiting for a while, I don't know how many days and nights rotate. Yang Da and the others lived on a bean dregs cake a day. The luggage had been taken away, and the soldiers would eat whatever they gave them. They were able to dig the grass roots in the ground to eat, and they even asked them to support it.
When the soldiers called them out, they had forgotten how long it had been since they were locked up.
Shouldn't anyone run away again
Everyone is thinking.
They were driven together like cattle and sheep, and the old soldiers would pick them out.
With the middle-aged man on one side, the old, the weak and the sick on the other, Yang Rong himself was unable to be separated from his sons.
"Master Bing Bing Ye, these are my sons, they will not be able to leave me, please show mercy, show mercy!" Yang Rong was gray-haired, crying so hard that he grabbed the veteran's sleeve and refused to accept it. release.
The sons also shouted: "Master Bing, he is our father, really!"
The old soldier is not like the new soldier, he is used to life and death on the battlefield, his heart is as hard as iron, or he will not get this job, at this time, his face is cold, like a Rakshasa in the world, and his tone is mocking: "I really think that father and son are going to battle. Where's the soldier? You're so old, are you ready to shoot?"
"Don't bother your son to do coolies with you!"
It is better to be a soldier than to be a coolie. When a soldier has food, he can rest. If he is lucky, he can become an official.
To be a coolie is to die. A beast in the form of a human must always work unless he is dead.
Several sons still begged: "My lord, my lord, please, please, my father is just looking at the old man, he has strength, he can be a soldier!"
Yang Rong did not ask.
He said to the old soldier, "Master soldier, these sons of mine are strong and capable, and they will definitely be good soldiers, so I will be a coolie!"
The old soldier couldn't help but look at Yang Rong a few more times and said happily, "You still have a loving father's heart."
"That being the case, you father and son will talk again, and I will lead the people away later."
When the father and son were crying together, the old soldier sat on the grass mound next to him and watched. He was also old, and he might not survive the next time he went to the battlefield. Which soldier of this age is not in constant pain, and old wounds have not healed. , adding new injuries, and his physique cannot be compared with that of young people.
"What are you looking at? Thinking of your son?" The comrade finished his business and sat down beside the veteran.
The old soldier shook his head and said, "Where did my son come from? The mother-in-law didn't get married, so she still has a son."
He remembered his father.
He still remembered that his family was poor when he was a child, and his father sold him to support his younger brothers.
After a long time, he even forgot what the family was like. Being a servant in the landlord's house and being beaten and scolded were common occurrences. The maid's monthly salary was more than those of them who did rough work. There is a future with the owner.
Later, the master's family died, and the family property was confiscated, and these servants now had a new place to go.
Men are soldiers, women...
The veteran sighed.
He turned his head and looked at the Yang family, feeling a little envious.
If he hadn't been sold by his father back then, what would it be like now
Will his father be willing to do coolies for the sake of his sons, or will he ask his sons to work as coolies with him in order to not work so hard
The veteran asked his comrade, "Have you written your suicide note yet?"
Colleague: "I don't know how to read, and it costs money to find someone to write. I told my mother-in-law and my son earlier that if I can't go back, my mother-in-law will remarry if she wants to. Just a little, my son can't change his surname."
The veteran smiled and said, "It's better than me, you still have two people you can miss!"
The comrade also laughed.
It is not easy to marry a daughter-in-law, even an ordinary village woman would prefer to find a farmer rather than a soldier.
After all, the farmer can grow food, but the soldier can’t control the affairs of the family. He is far away and can’t support the sky at home. Even the monthly salary, it may not be paid every month, and it may not be able to reach her when it is paid. superior.
For example, the daughter-in-law of the same robe is a prostitute of Congliang, and she is driven out because she is too old. Otherwise, she is a prostitute and he cannot marry.
The same robe said to the veteran: "If you can come back alive next time, please come to my house for a drink. The tofu I made can taste meaty."
Veteran: "That's really worth trying."
They both looked relaxed.
There are many comrades who died around, and it seems that they are not so afraid of death.
I used to be afraid, but when I heard that I was going to fight, I couldn't stop shivering, but now I don't seem to be afraid.
Death has become a very common thing.
The veteran said to his comrades, "The weather is good today. I don't know what the weather will be like on the day of the expedition."
The comrade also looked up at the sky: "Then who knows, God won't say hello to us in advance, don't be too kind, and the time is about the same, lead people over."
The old soldier stood up, his toes tapped on the ground, his shoes were too big, and his clothes were always a little shaky.
"Over there! Follow me!"
Yang Rong took the eldest's hand: "Son, listen to Dad, don't fight hard, run away if you can."
Yang Da was sobbing that he was speechless.
How to escape
Which one can escape
This is their life.