Chapter 232 Fire Night (5)
Although I said I was going to the city gate to see the situation of the refugees outside the city, in fact, there was no comparison with the past situation, and I couldn’t find anyone who really understood the situation here. People, Ning Yi can't draw any conclusions just by looking at the number of people. This time I went out mainly because I had been staying in Taiping Lane for several days, and now I planned to go out and see the situation in the city with my own eyes.
As an outsider in a certain sense, Ning Yi can watch the chaotic scenes inside and outside the city as a simple disaster movie in most cases. In these years, as long as the order of the city still exists, no matter how tired or miserable it is, it will not hurt people with a certain family background.
But on the other hand, facing many desolate scenes in the rain, even Ning Yi could not help but feel compassion, just like the scene when Jiangning was closed due to floods last year. That time there was mostly famine, but this time the situation is even more obvious. People who were injured in the earthquake, people who lost their property, or beggars and homeless people.
In this situation, when injured, a large number of people look down on doctors, let alone buy medicinal materials. There were shacks erected among the ruins that had not yet been cleared on both sides of the road. The people living in them all looked desolate, and some of them had braved the rain to dig up the ruins of their own homes. People who were seriously injured or had their limbs broken were homeless. They hugged mats and hid under the low eaves, not knowing whether they were alive or dead. This was already the fifth day after the earthquake. It might have been howling a few days earlier, but by this time, most people had been tortured to the point of being silent.
There are also children who have lost their parents, or beggars who were originally following their father or mother. Some are injured or not. Some are shivering in the rain, some are hiding in sheltered places and curling up, and some are crying. , but I was already crying until I became dumb. The extremely hungry children secretly went to dig through the ruins. If they could get some food, no matter what it was, they would stuff it into their mouths as soon as possible. However, this was not the era of abundant food in later generations, and it was not seen in anyone's home. How much food you have to eat. More often than not, they were chased and beaten after being seen.
Boys and girls are the same under such circumstances. No one is cute, not cute at all. Life and reality cannot make such romantic or girly jokes here. Children living in the rain are just like wild dogs. There are also people from slightly affluent families who can feel some compassion after dealing with their own situations. But with the current support of this kind of productivity, no amount of kindness is enough. The government or big families like the Qian family will also give out some porridge and rice to save some people from dying, but it cannot cover up a small number of people. The despair of having lost the future.
After all, this is the time, just like Hangzhou and Jiangning. If only a few dozen people freeze to death outside the city in the winter, it will be a truly peaceful age. Ning Yi can basically understand, but after seeing these, his heart is still a little heavy. This is only a situation that can be seen in the streets of the city. Although Su Tan'er, Xiaochan and others also feel sympathy, they are used to it, and their mood is not as literary as Ning Yi.
I opened the window for a while and looked at it for a while. Seeing that Ning Yi looked serious and not very interested, Xiao Chan said softly: "Xiao Chan was sold because her family was about to starve to death... ..." She just wanted to comfort Ning Yi, but she didn't show any signs of self-pity. Ning Yi smiled, and Su Tan'er took her to his side, letting her rest her forehead on his shoulder, and then stroked her hair. .
It is impossible to take a closer look at the plot outside the city. In fact, the increase in refugees in the past few days has surrounded at least several gates of Hangzhou City. The soldiers from Wude Camp had already secured the city gate. The door is not closed, but it is quite troublesome to get in and out. Ning Yi has the voucher from the wealthy family, but there is no need to go out. As long as their carriage and clothes leave the city gate, they will be surrounded by people. .
Ning Yi got off the car near the city gate and went to look there alone for a while. Then a vigilant soldier came over to ask. Ning Yi took out the Qian family's name tattoo, and the soldier walked away. At this time, the environment outside the city gate was harsh and muddy. Some soldiers set up sheds outside the city to maintain order, mainly to keep the main road open.
The collapsed part of the city wall is not far from here, and a large number of workers are working on it. At this time, the city was busy rescuing itself and cleaning up the mess in their homes. There were not many workers to hire. More than half of them should have been selected from the refugees outside the city. They were all men with some strength and food. He is responsible for delivering food and taking care of food, so he seems very energetic here.
Just looking at it like this, Ning Yi understood it in his heart.
“Not only Hangzhou, Suzhou has also been affected. Too many people have been affected. If you want to take the land route, you may be robbed not far away. For now, we can only stay here and wait for the situation. Getting better..."
Back on the carriage, Ning Yi sighed, and was about to send the carriage back to Taiping Lane, but he heard the voices of people outside the city gradually rising in the rain, and he didn't know what was going on. something. Ning Yi listened for a while, and someone vaguely shouted: "We want to see the prefect, we want to see the prefect..." Maybe there was a commotion among the refugees outside.
When this happened, the Wude camp stationed near the city wall did not panic. Ning Yi leaned out of the car curtain to take a look, and saw a general going up to the city wall for a while in the rain and fog. At the same time, a group of soldiers went over to watch the city wall construction site, a group of people were still stationed at the city gate, and another group of people rushed out to appease or suppress. Several old people passed by near the city gate, and Ning Yi heard them say: "Oh, it's making trouble again."
"They are not having a good time either..."
It seems that this kind of This isn't the first time a minor commotion has occurred. After a while, the commotion outside the city stopped. Ning Yi didn't hear any screams. It was probably not a bloody suppression of arrests and killings. After watching boringly for a while, Ning Yi waved his hand and ordered him to go back.
This afternoon, towards evening, the rain gradually stopped. The haze in the rain is gradually fading, the air is fresh, a rainbow appears in the sky, and the trees planted in Taiping Lane have become a little greener, which seems to indicate that this disaster has finally taken a breather, and what follows is the real aftermath and reconstruction. .
Now that he understood that he had to live here for the time being, Ning Yi had already started planning for his family to live here for more than a month. For example, the city gates are closed. During this period, the supply of various vegetables may be cut off, and many people's cellars may have been collapsed. These things have to be considered. Of course, the Su family had only swallowed up one-third of the Wu family's property, money and goods. This was the time when the wealth was extremely strong. If there was a gap with the Lou family, Su Tan'er could just abandon the business here, no matter how high the price of rice was. They can also afford the food, so it’s not a big problem.
Originally, the hostility of the Lou family was one of the bigger problems, but the sudden earthquake should interrupt the other party's concentration. After the incident, even if the other party really had any bad intentions, people like Ning Yi could naturally take shelter. For the Qian family, his gunpowder was also one of the preparations made considering the problems of the Lou family.
Although he has experienced many things and has enough emergency comeback capabilities, Ning Yi is still passionate about conspiracy, such as the management of large amounts of intelligence information, such as higher-level power, as in "The Legend of the Galaxy Heroes" The same as Yang Wen-li's: If it weren't for insufficient troops, who would like to use cunning tactics? Here, with the few resources at his disposal, he foolishly fights with others. That is a real fool. If the other party is really unwilling to do something, he will just go to Beijing and give the Lou family to the family through Lao Qin. Once it's done, it's a flat push situation with just a raise of your hands, no need to think about it in detail.
So I arranged the chores at home with Su Tan'er in the afternoon. In the evening, there was smoke everywhere in Hangzhou - most of the wood and firewood branches were wet at this time - falling in the sunset and rainbow, Like a big prosperous tribe. A dog running and barking after a rainbow on the road also looks lively and energetic.
"Actually, dogs are color blind... they can't see rainbows, they can just feel..."
The sun has appeared for the first time in several days, and the family gathered outside and outside the yard waiting for dinner. Ning Yi, Xiaochan and others laughed and talked about the dog. Several children also came over and asked various questions curiously. At this time, Su Tan'er was sitting in the ruins next to her indifferently, holding her cheek with her hands and smiling at this scene. At this time, she also slightly let go of her tense heartstrings for the past few days, and restrained her aura of a strong woman. She looked just like She looks like a simple girl looking at her beloved husband.
What followed was a peaceful night, even more peaceful than the rainy previous nights. The seven nurses at home, led by Geng Huyuan, took turns watching the night. The city, which had been tired for several days, seemed to finally get a long-lost sleep. The fight and commotion in the city could be felt no matter the day or night in the past few days. He also restrained himself, but in the middle of the night, there was a thief in a nearby street, and faint shouts could be heard.
The next day, the sun rose high.
Everything is going as usual. When the sun comes out during the day, everyone seems to be energetic when working. However, at noon, the hot sun has begun to evaporate the water vapor, as if a few knots have been wiped out. Since the rainy season, midsummer has returned. In the afternoon, suddenly a group of sergeants came towards Taiping Lane. From a distance, they saw a group led by a young general. At this time, Ning Yi happened to be chatting with Xiaochan on the street outside, taking a look at the work around them. The young general It seemed that he asked one or two people on the street, and then looked over here. He saw Ning Yi from a distance, raised his head, and held the handle of the knife to come over.
That was the one who should be called by Lou Shuheng to cause trouble... Ning Yi could probably confirm this with just one glance. He sighed a little in his heart. In his original expectation, in the first two days of the earthquake, the legal system was no longer taken into consideration. If it were him, he would simply gather a group of people, cover up his identity, and come directly to kill dozens of people in his family. Once it is passed, it is made to look like robbing something. Even if no one is killed, it can be beheaded and maimed, and there is no way to pursue it afterwards. But it seemed that the damage to the Lou family was quite serious, and they couldn't react for a while. If it came again at this time, the entire Taiping Lane people had temporarily united for the chaos in the city, so they had to use other methods.
The young general led more than 20 people and was about to come over. On the other side of the street, several war horses came galloping towards them. There were five knights in total, blocking the group. The leader was a deputy general. The young general had a lower position and saluted quickly. The two sides said a few words. The young general glanced at Ning Yi bitterly and led the team away. Five knights came this way. The leading deputy general dismounted and bowed his hand towards Ning Yi, but it was the soldier who had fought with Ning Yi in Xiaoyingzhou a few days ago. It seemed that his name was Yuan Dingqi.
After a brief greeting, the other party did not pretend to be pretentious and said directly: "The young master of the Lou family has threatened to cause trouble for Mr. Ning among his friends, but Mr. Ning does not need to worry about this matter. Guests of Mr. Qian will never make things difficult for him in Hangzhou. , what happened today is Du Tongyi It is said that Yuan brought this token to Mr. Ning. If someone from the army comes to make trouble again in the future, Mr. Ning can just take out the token and show it to others. "
As Yuan Dingqi spoke, he handed Ning Yi a token engraved with the word "Du". Naturally, this is not an official token to mobilize the army, but a private certificate exclusive to the current commander of the Wu De Army. The commander's name was Du Hong, whose nickname was Ruofei. It was said that Commander Du knew some poetry and was a well-known Confucian general. He and Qian Xiwen were masters and disciples. Even this name was given to him by Qian Xiwen. At this time, military generals were not taken seriously. It was not easy for the general to gain the status of a scholar. He was quite proud of his status as a disciple of the Qian family. Although he did not know Ning Yi this time, he immediately sent someone to help.
Yuan Dingqi had a fight with Ning Yi on Xiaoyingzhou last time, and he was also a little curious about the fact that this scholar was good at martial arts. His boss was a martial artist studying literature, which was called arty, and many people did it. Here, scholars practiced martial arts, and there weren't many similar things. Naturally, he asked a few more questions verbally, then smiled and said that he would like to ask for advice someday when he had the opportunity, and then took the person away without being too sloppy.
With this token, the possibility that the military system will cause trouble for you without any reason is not high.
On this day, this little episode happened. Time gradually passed, night fell, and gradually became darker. It was probably early in the morning, and some things happened unexpectedly.
When the commotion broke out, Ning Yi also woke up from the bed. Tan'er hugged him gently and refused to let go. He separated his wife's hand, put on his clothes after a while and went out. The city to the north was already burning. Red, it looks like the fire in the city on the night of the earthquake. Smoke obscured the night sky.
Geng Huyuan and others were also watching in the yard at this time. Ning Yi went over and looked at it a few times: "What's wrong?"
"It started burning out of nowhere... ”
“The sound of putting out fires is really confusing...”
Various noisy sounds spread vaguely from the night sky. After a while, Su Tan'er, who had put on clothes, also came out. Chan'er rubbed her eyes and came out of the next room: "It just started raining. , why is it so burned?”
"I hope it's just a fire..."
Ning Yi frowned and said.
But it was more than just a fire.
As daybreak approached, the chaotic sounds became louder, and then suddenly someone came with the news: "The fighting is starting, the fighting is starting, those people in the north of the city are fighting with the people from Wude Camp. Get up, I heard someone died..."
Yesterday, Ning Yi didn't hear much news in the city. After all, the heavy rain had just stopped, and everyone felt like they were waiting for something to happen. However, it was also yesterday that the army once again started collecting corpses for disposal. After all, the weather was heating up too fast. After that, there were some minor frictions with the people who had already set up mourning halls in the north of the city.
Then at night, a fire broke out. Several large and small mourning halls in several streets caught fire at the same time. Dozens of corpses that had been placed in coffins were burned. The fire spread and became unstoppable in a moment. Dozens of them were People were burned to death like this. This uncontrollable fire made everyone confused. Later, when someone came out and said that they saw soldiers from Wude Camp setting fire, people in several streets immediately clashed with the soldiers who came over.
The people here don’t know the situation over there yet, but it sounds like the situation has become more and more intense as the day dawns. Then the gongs and trumpets began to sound urgently, and riots began to occur in the cities to the west. When Ning Yi and others set up a simple defense at the entrance of Taiping Lane to block the street, the assistant hurried back, panting, and then saw more than a dozen Jianghu people armed with swords rushing from one side of the intersection, seemingly I want to directly enter Taiping Alley.
This incident happened suddenly. It seems that some people who originally wanted to fish in troubled waters have found an opportunity. The organized power here in Taiping Lane is mainly the Liu Family Martial Arts School, but there is no cooperation with that More than ten people were fighting in close combat. Ning Yi and others could not tell the difference at this time, so they just grabbed the rocks and threw them back. The two people were beaten to a bloody head, and the other person ran away noisily.
“What’s going on?”
Ning Yi turned to ask, and the deputy was just in shock: “Something happened, something happened, there was a fight in the north of the city, people died... …”
"I knew he was dead a long time ago, how could this happen?"
"A big shot is dead, and the situation cannot be dealt with. One...a lieutenant general went to comfort him, but he was accidentally killed. That lieutenant, It seems that someone named Yuan and Yuan Dingqi accidentally got chopped off in the head by someone in the crowd... I'm so scared. There's going to be chaos now... Let's hurry up Quickly guard the intersection and don't let anyone come in..."
"One knife...cut it?"
Ning Yi was stunned for a long time, recalling that Yuan Dingqi, of course, his martial arts can't do it. Judgment, but the opponent's skill should be higher than mine, and it is said that he is also very powerful. Such a person would be beheaded in a chaotic situation because some civilians made trouble?
Ning Yi felt a bad feeling in his heart, and even couldn't help but smile. Such a person... made his neck feel slightly chilly.
Then, in the chaos, that feeling began to turn into reality. News came that the refugees at the west gate of the city took the opportunity to rebel. It was a real rebellion, but it failed. In the morning, they were blocked by the prepared Wude camp. Outside the city gate. But a message has come through clearly.
On the seventh day after the earthquake, Fang La's men had already begun to gather, and they attacked brazenly!
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I have always thought that long live the Ku Klux Klan. A fixed three thousand words a day is enough, and it will last longer. But I always accidentally coded to 5,000, and when I saw it, it was two o'clock in the morning. The birthday I originally wanted to say was tomorrow has become today's birthday...
Well, it's my birthday today. It's such a complicated feeling. To use the old saying, I obviously didn't do anything bad, but suddenly Just one year older...
So, for the sake of my birthday, how about giving me some monthly votes^_^
PS: The text is already over 5,000 words long. (End of this chapter)