As night fell, the lights in Fu's house were bright. Fu Kemao, his parents, brothers and sisters were sitting around the dining table eating.
The Fu family is a big family. The head of the family, Fu Fanlin, has three sons and two daughters. Fu Kemao is the third child, with an older brother and an older sister, and a younger brother and a younger sister. In contrast to his brothers and sisters who are either mature and steady or sensible and well-behaved, Fu Kemao, who has been naughty and playful since childhood, is particularly dazzling. If it weren't for the fact that his face is exactly the same as Fu Fanlin's, Fu Fanlin would have suspected that Fu Kemao was taken away by mistake.
Fu Fanlin had just taken a few bites of rice when he saw Fu Kemao wipe his mouth, put the bowl on the table, and stood up in a hurry, "I'm full! Dad, I'm going to read a book."
As soon as he said this, everyone at the table looked at him strangely. Why did this sentence sound so weird coming from Fu Kemao's mouth?
Fu Fanlin shouted: "Stop!"
Fu Kemao turned around impatiently and asked, "Dad, what's wrong?"
Fu Fanlin said: "I don't think I heard you clearly just now. What did you say you were going to do?"
Fu Kemao answered confidently: "I want to go back to my room to read!"
Fu Fanlin now really felt like the sun had risen from the west. "What book do you want to read?"
Fu Kemao blinked his eyes and replied calmly, "I just learned a text today. The teacher will check it tomorrow, so I have to go back to my room early to review it."
Fu Fanlin understood a little bit. This kid was probably reading idle books under the guise of studying.
He waved his hand, not wanting to see his son's ugly face, "Go away."
Not long after we finished eating, we saw our youngest son twisting and turning in his seat as if the chair had nails stuck to it.
The wife immediately asked with concern: "Amao, what's wrong with you? Did a bug bite your butt? Come here, let me take a look."
"No bugs bite me." The youngest son said in a low voice, embarrassed, "Mom, I want to go play with my second brother too."
Fu Fanlin narrowed his eyes and asked kindly, "What do you want to play with my second brother?"
The younger son didn't have the thick skin of Fu Kemao. He didn't look into Fu Fanlin's eyes and just stammered, "Just, just read a book..."
If Fu Fanlin doesn't find out what's wrong now, he would be a fool.
Judging from what the two sons said, the key to the problem was a certain book. Now the younger son's shy behavior successfully made him misunderstand. Could Fu Kemao be hiding in the house reading some erotic novels? It would be fine if he read it by himself, but he even seduced his younger brother to read it! A Mao is only eleven years old! Does this kid still look like a brother? !
Fu Fanlin suppressed his anger and said in a deep voice: "I will go with you to find your second brother later."
Fu Kemao had no idea that he had been tricked by his brother. At this moment, he was happily pulling out a book from under the quilt.
It is not appropriate to call it a book, it is actually a collection of newspaper clippings. He had previously asked the servant to cut out every issue of "The Rise of the Dynasty" serialized in "Peking Fiction Newspaper", bind them together, and wrap them in book covers to make a book.
It was because The Rise of Dynasty had not been published that he came up with this unresolved solution. He had called the newspaper countless times, but The Rise of Dynasty was not published. Was the editor-in-chief of the newspaper crazy? He had money but didn't make it! Sooner or later, their newspaper would go bankrupt!
He got up late this morning and didn't have time to watch the new episode of Dynasty Rise. He felt like he was being scratched by a cat and couldn't sleep well. Usually, he loved to discuss the plot of Dynasty Rise with his classmates after class. This time, he hid out of class because he was afraid of being spoiled by his classmates. Now that school is finally over and he can go home, he can finally read his book.
He turned directly to the end of the page and saw that the servant had indeed pasted today's "Rise of Dynasties" clippings.
His breathing suddenly became rapid, his eyes slid across the lead type eagerly and cherishingly, chewing every word slowly, his mind fluctuating with the development of the plot. The daily update was only three or four thousand words, and even if he broke each word into pieces and swallowed it, he couldn't read it for too long. When he finished reading the last word, Fu Kemao sighed in melancholy. The cat in his heart had just been quiet for a while, and then it started scratching again.
I don't know where this evildoer Lin Zhongqi learned the skill of breaking up chapters. Each chapter is more fascinating than the last. The more he reads, the more he can't get satisfied. Especially in the past half month, "Dynasty Rise" has been full of climaxes, which makes people feel addicted.
When the wild barbarian army was approaching the city and the people in the city were in a panic, the county magistrate and the general who were guarding the city abandoned the city and fled, and surrendered to the army. Fu Kemao hated and despised them, but he couldn't help but worry about Xu Wangmu. In his opinion, this was almost a dangerous situation where he was sure to die. There were only two options before Xu Wangmu, fight or surrender. Xu Wangmu was a man of steel, not the kind of person who was afraid of death, so Fu Kemao knew which path he would choose without even thinking about it.
How should we fight if we just want to? Fu Kemao has discussed this with his classmates and friends countless times, and he deeply understands Xu Wangmu's current weakness.
Among the tens of thousands of villagers supported by Xu Wangmu, a large part were the elderly, the weak, women and children, and there were only 10,000 young and strong men. Not to mention whether these people would listen to Xu Wangmu and defend the city and kill the enemy (Xu Wangmu was indebted to them, but could this favor be greater than their lives?), even if they went to the battlefield, they would only deliver food. They had no military education at all, and some of them probably had never even killed a chicken. How could they be expected to repel the battle-hardened wild barbarian army?
With deep concerns about Xu Wangmu's future, Fu Kemao and his classmates anxiously waited for the daily serialization. And Lin Zhongqi did not disappoint them, he really wrote a feasible method.
However, the county magistrate fled, and the garrison commander was worried and planned to lead his soldiers to surrender, and submit a letter of surrender to the new master with several thousand soldiers under his command. The garrison commander used his eloquence and moved some of his soldiers with wealth and glory, and agreed to open the city gate at night to surrender.
That night, countless old, weak, women and children suddenly appeared at the city gate and the barracks gate. Their cries were deafening, and some even knelt down and could not get up.
"Da Zhuang, I'm your mother! The county magistrate has run away now, you can't run away! If you run away, he will run away too, and then the wild barbarians will come in! They will kill everyone in the city! Your wife is still pregnant!"
"Tiezhu! It is a man's duty to defend his country. If you run away, I will not be able to face my ancestors even if I die!"
"Ah Fang, I'm Huang Ying. When you guys defend the city, I'll marry you!"
"I'm Aunt Wang who sells sesame cakes. Many of you have bought sesame cakes from me! My husband died, and it's not easy for me, a woman, to raise five children in the family..."
"Dadong, you go first! If anything happens...my brother and I will take care of you! There are hundreds of thousands of people in our city, and a spit from each of them can drown them all!"
…
When the garrison commander saw that things were not going well, he immediately brought out the lies he had told the soldiers before, such as that the wild barbarians treated the prisoners well and that those who turned from evil to good would soon enjoy wealth and glory, in an attempt to confuse the soldiers.
A cold laugh was heard, and Xu Wangmu stood out from the crowd and delivered an exciting speech, loudly describing the scenes of the cities that were destroyed by the wild barbarians, where "only one in ten people in the city survived, the whole city was in mourning, and there were lonely graves for thousands of miles." He called on the people in the city to unite now and resist the wild barbarians together, because "if you don't resist, you will die, but if you resist, you may have a chance to survive! We have no way out!"
This was truly an excellent speech. Not only did many civilians clench their fists in anger, but the soldiers who had originally considered retreating also remained silent with tears in their eyes.
How to withdraw?
Behind me is my home, my parents, my wife, my children, and my fellow villagers. How can I retreat? I can’t retreat!
No matter how well the defending general and his confidants spoke, they could not stop the anger of the people, and they were soon tied up by the mutinous soldiers in the camp.
Knowing that surrender would lead to death, the only option left for the soldiers was to fight to the death.
As the saying goes, the army that mourns will win.
It turned out that when Xu Wangmu heard that the wild barbarians were coming, the county magistrate fled and knew that something was wrong. If he didn't want to end up with a terrible ending where the city gates were breached and the whole city was burned, killed, looted and robbed by the wild barbarians, he had to win the hearts of the people and seize the military power as soon as possible.
He ordered people to post leaflets in the streets and alleys. The leaflets were illustrated with pictures and text, describing the atrocities committed by the Yahu, such as raping women, looting property, and slaughtering civilians. He also sent a person with a sharp tongue to explain the contents of the leaflets to the people in the city in detail, describing the Yahu's tradition of killing prisoners in particular, and also describing in detail the tragic scenes of other cities that were captured by Yahu - "mountains of corpses and seas of blood, the whole city was desolate, men were slaves, and women were prostitutes."
Then, under the instigation of Xu Wangmu and others, more and more people blocked the military camp and the city gate. The city was not big, and these people must have some kind of relationship with the soldiers. Even for these people, the soldiers in the city would fight bravely.
Because this city is their home and they have no way out.
The guards and their confidants were all tied up.
The army cannot be without a general for a day. Xu Wangmu's good reputation for sheltering disaster victims was reflected in this. In addition, many people in the city sincerely believed in his status as a god, so at one time many people suggested that he lead the army to fight.
There is no obstacle to this proposal in the military - if your parents and wife tell you to be obedient and you don't listen, who do you think you are?
So Xu Wangmu led more than 5,000 defenders of Tianyang City and began a two-week defense of the city.
After Xu Wangmu took over the army, he did three things. The first was to let the people in the city set up a picket team to maintain public order in the city, the second was to open the county government warehouse and release grain, and the third was to lead the army to "encourage" the rich households in the city to actively donate grain and materials to contribute to the logistical support of the army.
Then Fu Kemao witnessed a dazzling battle to defend the city.
Boiling water, hot oil, rolling logs and throwing stones were all child's play. Xu Wangmu organized the women and children in the city to work overtime to prepare a corrosive liquid similar to sulfuric acid. When this liquid was poured on the wild barbarian soldiers attacking the city, a sizzling sound was heard, which was really sour and refreshing.
Finally, he even brought out gunpowder!
The technological level of Dahua at that time was equivalent to that of the Qin and Han Dynasties. Gunpowder might have been invented by an alchemist, but it had not yet been used as a weapon on the battlefield.
Although the gunpowder that Xu Wangmu has made now has limited lethality, it is at least enough to scare people.
then.
At the end of the 20th year of Pingkang, a barbarian named Yehu led a large army to besiege Tianyang City. The gods summoned the flowing fire from the sky to repel them.
In this way, Xu Wangmu led the people in the city to successfully defend Tianyang City, accumulated initial prestige, and became the de facto ruler of Tianyang City.
It stands to reason that since Tianyang City had been defended, Fu Kemao should be satisfied. But on the contrary, not only did he not feel satisfied, but he felt that his appetite was whetted!
What will Xu Wangmu do in the future? Will he write to the court to ask for an official title? Or...will he directly establish his own territory and take over the whole country?
If Xu Wangmu chose the first path, Fu Kemao would continue to watch, but he would always feel uncomfortable. But if he chose the second path... Fu Kemao covered his pounding heart and muttered to himself: "That would be so cool!"
"What's so cool?"
"Of course it was Xu Wangmu who rebelled..." Fu Kemao realized something was wrong halfway through his words. He turned his head stiffly and saw his father smiling at him meaningfully with his eyes narrowed.
In the past, when Dad showed this smile, it meant he was going to be beaten!
Fu Kemao shuddered and subconsciously wanted to stuff the book in his hand into the quilt.
"Take it out, I've seen it all, don't hide it."
Fu Kemao tightly grasped the book in his hand, his voice trembling with nervousness: "Dad, Dad, I was wrong, I was really wrong, please hit me, the book is innocent, Dad!"
Looking at his son's cowardly look, Fu Fanlin was a little amused: "You are wrong? Tell me what mistake you made?"
Fu Kemao hesitated and answered: "I read some idle books?"
Fu Fanlin frowned and scolded, "How can "The Rise of Dynasties" be called a leisure book! You really don't know what's good!"
Fu Kemao was completely dumbfounded. Fu Fanlin quickly snatched the thick newspaper clippings from his hand, flipped through a few pages, and smiled, "Boy, it's quite complete." He raised his eyes and asked, "Have you finished reading all of this?"
Fu Kemao nodded blankly: "I've finished reading it."
"Okay, let me test you." Fu Fanlin glanced at his son's stupid face and didn't dare to ask too complicated questions. "What did you learn from the plot of Xu Wangmu defending the city?"
Fu Kemao was stunned for a few seconds, and then he noticed a hint of kindness and sincerity in the old man's eyes. He finally understood that his father was not speaking in a sarcastic way! And from what his father said, he was also watching "Rise of Dynasties"?
So Fu Kemao immediately became bolder.
He cleared his throat and accused in a righteous manner: "The county magistrate and the general who are guarding the city are nothing but bastards! How can such cowards be qualified to be officials appointed by the court!" He first convicted the county magistrate and the defending general, and then was about to come up with a unique flattery for the protagonist Xu Wangmu, but was interrupted by his father.
"Then let me ask you, if you encounter this situation, what would you do?"
Fu Kemao answered without hesitation: "Of course we have to defend the city!"
Fu Fanlin smiled, his expression unpredictable: "Let me change the question. If the enemy is not as brutal as the wild barbarians in the book, they will give high positions and generous salaries to those who surrender, and as long as the people are obedient, they will not kill too many people in the city, and they will even reward the docile people. What will you do then?"
Fu Kemao was completely stunned. He stammered, "Even so, even so..."
"If you don't resist, most of the people in the city will probably survive. If you resist, the enemy might massacre the city. Even so, will you still fight to the death?"
Fu Kemao stood there hesitantly, not knowing what to say.
Fu Fanlin looked at his son. The hesitation on his young face was so real, and so... weak.
"Now the mountains and rivers are in ruins, and war is everywhere. Russia, from the north, surrounds me on three sides; England, under the pretense of trade, hides a poisonous plot. France occupies Guangzhou and is eyeing Guizhou and Guangxi; Germany, in Jiaozhou, is eyeing the east. New Japan has taken Taiwan and is planning to take Fujian; America also wants to cede land and divide territory. What part of China do I have? This court is a mere formality. I am a territorial official for the foreigners; they suppress me, and the Han people surrender to the foreigners.①"
Fu Fanlin put his hands behind his back, tears flashing in his eyes, "Fu Kemao, you are sixteen this year. When I was your age, I had already started to write petitions to change the law. It's time for you to think carefully about some things."
"You have to think carefully about the fate of this country, the future of this nation, and the path you are going to take." He pointed out the window and shouted loudly: "If tomorrow, the armies of those countries surrounded Peking, Nanjing, and every city in China, what would you do? What would you do?!"
"If fighting means death, and not fighting means life, what are you going to do?! What can you do?!"
Fu Kemao stared at his father blankly. Something was stuck in his throat, making him unable to speak.
Fu Fanlin sighed: "Well, think about it carefully."
At the moment when he was about to step out of the door, Fu Kemao finally spoke, "Dad, if it were you, what would you do?"
"Me?" Fu Fanlin turned around. At this moment, his eyes were as clear and bright as a young boy's.
Then he raised his eyebrows and laughed, "It's just sacrificing one's life for justice!" The man, no, the boy looked at him and smiled brilliantly, his smile was as bright as the moon and the breeze, as if the moon and the breeze were in his arms: "There are always some things that are more important than family, life, and everything in this world. For them, you can sacrifice your life and shed your blood, and do whatever it takes."
Fu Kemao asked hoarsely, "What is that thing?"
Fu Fanlin walked out without looking back and laughed, "I've found it. You, just keep looking."
…
The next day, when Fu Kemao got up, he had dark circles under his eyes. He sat listlessly at the dining table, yawning uncontrollably. Fu Fanlin, on the other hand, was in good spirits, talking and laughing loudly with his wife and children.
Fu Kemao lowered his head. For some reason, he was afraid to see his father.
He ate in a hurry and rushed to school with his schoolbag.
In the past, he always arrived at school when the bell rang, but this was the first time he came so early. Now there were only a few kittens in the classroom.
As soon as he sat down, he heard faint sobbing sounds coming from the side. Puzzled, he looked over and saw his little friend Qi Mingzhi lying on the table wiping his tears.
This scared him. He moved cautiously to his front, observed him for a while, and found that Qi Mingzhi seemed to be crying while reading the newspaper?
"Brother? What's wrong with you?" He looked at the newspaper curiously, and his face immediately became strange: "Is this the Literary Newspaper? Did you cry after reading the Literary Newspaper?" He couldn't help but make a joke: "What's the matter? The president went to publish an obituary? Brother, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but it's a new era now, and we ordinary people don't have to cry for the president like we cry for the emperor."
Qi Mingzhi, a grown man, was crying so hard that he couldn't speak. He just handed the newspaper to Fu Kemao and said while hiccuping, "You, you, take a look at this article!"
Fu Kemao looked at the newspaper with tear marks on it and curled his lips in disdain before he began to read the article.
"Vagabond Adventures?" He pronounced the name lightly and asked Qi Mingzhi with a smile, "What is this about?"
Qi Mingzhi glared at him, "Stop laughing! Take a look first!"
Fu Kemao shrugged and continued reading with some curiosity.
Not long after, the smile on his face disappeared and his brows furrowed deeply. When he saw that Damao had to eat slop from the garbage can because of hunger, he couldn't help but say, "Dogs won't eat that, so how can humans eat it? You'll get sick if you eat it!"
Qi Mingzhi said quietly, "But if you don't eat, Damao will starve to death first."
Fu Fanlin was speechless, and he remained silent after that, only his furrowed brows revealed his restless heart. Perhaps because his younger brother's nickname was Amao, he couldn't help but care more about the big Mao in the article. Seeing him living such a miserable life, his heart was deeply torn.
He was eager to know how the plot would develop next. He naively hoped that Damao could find his parents or be adopted by a kind person so that he wouldn't have to eat slop!
When he saw the evil deeds of the family described by the stone lion, he couldn't help but clench his fists and questioned: "I don't believe it. How could there be people in the world who are so bad? Is this made up by the author?"
Qi Mingzhi rolled his eyes at this naive girl and said, "You have really been made stupid by your parents. Apart from anything else, your uncle has done a lot of bullying of men and women."
Fu Fanlin fiercely retorted: "Don't spit blood on me! My uncle is a very nice person! He smiles at everyone he sees!"
"That's only for you and your family! Why don't you go out and find out what your uncle He Zhaoshan's reputation is like outside?" Qi Mingzhi really couldn't stand his little friend acting like a stupid son of a landlord, so he simply told him all the bad deeds he knew about He Zhaoshan.
After hearing this, Fu Kemao was completely dumbfounded.
Qi Mingzhi continued, "Let alone your uncle, your new friend Li Jingliang is no good either. This guy is very sinister, and only a fool like you would consider him a friend!"
Fu Kemao took a long time to come back to his senses, his heart was in turmoil. He and Qi Mingzhi grew up wearing open-crotch pants, and he believed that Qi Mingzhi would not lie to him. Moreover, he now thought along the lines of Qi Mingzhi. After removing the previous filters, his uncle and Li Jingliang seemed not so kind and gentle, and they did not seem to be innocent good people.
Fu Fanlin was really hit hard, and he was completely depressed. Qi Mingzhi quickly changed the subject and said, "I haven't finished reading the newspaper yet, give it to me quickly, because you have a class with Mr. Bai later, go and prepare for it."
Although Fu Kemao was extremely frustrated, he still held the newspaper tightly in his hand and said stubbornly: "I want to finish reading this article!"
He wanted to see what kind of ending the family that had done so many evil things would have.
When he saw the fire that burned everything, he first burst into tears and then laughed.
He cried and laughed: "Burned, all burned!"
Qi Mingzhi was shocked by his friend's behavior. Although he cried when he saw this and remembered something, why was Fu Kemao crying and laughing at the same time? Could he have gone crazy because of the shock? !
"Ke Mao, are you okay? Don't scare me. What's wrong with you? Tell me quickly..."
Fu Kemao turned a deaf ear to his friend's worried inquiries. He just suddenly remembered what his father said to him yesterday. His father asked him to think carefully about the fate of this country, the future of this nation, and the path he wanted to take.
The fate of the country and the future of the nation were too far away for him to figure out. But he had some ideas about the path he would take in the future.
He didn't want to be as bad as his uncle, the family in the article. He didn't want others to hate him every time they thought of him, and he didn't want people to say it was retribution when he died one day.
He wants to be a good person.
"I want to be a good person who can help others." He said to Qi Mingzhi seriously.
Qi Mingzhi was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Then do it. Anyway, a fool like you can't be a bad guy. You can't even hurt others."
Fu Kemao said angrily: "I am serious, I really want to be a good person, I want to help Damao!"
Qi Mingzhi paused in his perfunctory nodding. He looked at Fu Kemao in surprise and asked carefully, "You know that Damao is just a character in the book and does not exist, right?"
"I'm not that stupid!!! I'm talking about those homeless children like Damao who don't have enough food to eat!"
"So how do you want to help?"
The author has something to say:
Fu Kemao: "My father said that if money can solve a problem, it's not a problem." He patted his chest and said proudly: "The last thing my family lacks is money. I plan to spend money to build an orphanage first!"
At this time, Fu Kemao didn't know that because of his impulsive action, the second generation of Beijing's social circle began to popularize poverty alleviation and helping children. The second generation spent a lot of money and used charity as a way to show off their wealth. Of course, these are all later stories.
To prevent theft, I pasted some of the content into the comments to see how it works.
Small theater:
Le Jing has something to say: Although I did not appear in this chapter, I indirectly abused the scumbag through my work (≧▽≦)/
① Excerpted from Mr. Chen Tianhua's "Looking Back"
Also, I always suspect that the so-called meteors that Liu Xiu, the son of destiny, used were actually early gunpowder, and Liu Xiu claimed that it was the help of God to fool the people and soldiers, so that he could take the so-called meteors as the basis of his destiny. Of course, this is just my personal guess, maybe Liu Xiu is really the son of destiny, funny.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
