Chapter 160: Catch Ding (Besieged, Depressing, Tragic, Please Choose to Buy or Skip)
Wei Qinghe's hands and feet were cold. He had known the cruelty of troubled times, but that cruelty was only in his cognition. Now it was hitting him right in front of his eyes.
He relied on his brother-in-law's relationship to hide in the mountains and escaped the disaster, but his parents, elder sister, nephew and brother-in-law are now trapped.
My parents and elder sister lived far away, but my brother-in-law was only ten miles away. However, even though he was ten miles away, he could do nothing when he heard the news.
For the first time, Wei Qinghe experienced the feeling of being heartbroken but unable to do anything, and he fell into despair.
Chen Lie and Chen Dashan also frowned. They had been in the army before and heard that all the people in the surrounding area were driven into the county by the soldiers. Combined with the fact that the land had been dug up, their first reaction was to clear the land.
People who originally had a hard life but managed to survive by relying on the mountains, are now surrounded in the city. Can they still survive?
Chen Dashan looked at Chen Lie: "What should we do now?"
They already had a clear idea of the situation outside, but Shen Jin and his younger brothers and Shopkeeper Xu were probably trapped in the city.
What to do now? This sentence pulled Wei Qinghe out of despair for a moment, but it was only a moment. There were only three of them. How could they get past thousands of bandits to rescue people?
As expected, Shen Lie shook his head.
"We can't do anything. More than a thousand bandits have been besieging the city for several days but have yet to break in. This shows that the defense force inside the county is not bad, at least on par with the bandits outside. We don't have the ability to break through the blockade of two or three thousand people to save people."
A battle of attack and defense was going on. Every part of the city wall was now guarded, and it was impossible to even use a rope to climb over the wall.
He knew in his heart that this would be the result, but when Chen Lie also said that there was no other way, the last glimmer of hope in Wei Qinghe's heart was completely extinguished.
He didn't dare to have any other thoughts, so he could only ask: "If the city is destroyed, is there a high probability that the people in the city will survive?"
Chen Lie shook his head: "Not necessarily. It depends on the behavior of the bandits attacking the city. There is a 99% chance that looting will happen. Most of those who are rebelling now actually hate officials and the rich. Those who were oppressed in the past have become murderous after rising up in the war. In their eyes, human life is probably no different from that of an ant. We can only rely on fate."
Once the city was broken, the first to be targeted were the rich. The unlucky ones, even if they were not rich, and they had no grudges against each other, would run into each other head-on. The other party would just swing his knife and their life would be killed.
The most terrifying thing when the city is broken is that the evil thoughts in people's hearts are infinitely magnified in the killing, and people just wield their knives without any reason and just kill with bloodshot eyes. However, in the current situation, there are really many such people.
"The most dangerous thing now is not the destruction of the city." Shen Lie said, "If the city is destroyed, as long as there are no madmen who are so cruel as to massacre the whole city, there will always be some people who can survive. What is more terrifying now is that the city has not been destroyed."
Wei Qinghe didn't quite understand, so Chen Dashan continued, "Too many villagers have gone in. The taxes have been too high in the past two years, and the crops haven't been harvested yet. The villagers are almost out of food. Qiyang County is not like the outside world where you can go into the mountains to find food. If the stalemate between the city and the outside world lasts too long, people inside might even start cannibalism."
People eat each other.
Wei Qinghe's knees went weak and he was quickly supported by Zhou Laizi who was standing beside him.
Zhou Laizi also realized that this unfamiliar young man might have relatives trapped in the city.
Chen Lie glanced at Wei Qinghe and said, "It's not that there is no hope, I just don't know if Manager Xu has seized it."
Wei Qinghe grabbed Shen Lie as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw and said, "What hope?"
Chen Lie said, "Da Shan and I made a shelter for Manager Xu last time. If he sees the opportunity quickly and escapes first and hides in it, he should be fine. If he doesn't get out in time, if he can find a place close to the city wall to dig a tunnel and escape, as long as he gets out of the city and hides in the shelter, he still has a chance of survival."
After hearing what Chen Lie said, Wei Qinghe's heart warmed up again.
My brother-in-law has always been smart and decisive when encountering problems. He followed Chen Lie and Chen Dashan all the way out of the shelter and saw them dig it. My brother-in-law already has a shelter like that, so he should be able to think of digging a tunnel to escape, right?
"If we dig it out, will we run into bandits besieging the city outside?"
Chen Lie nodded: "It's possible, but if there are only one or two thousand bandits outside, Qiyang County has two city gates, and their main force should be concentrated on the siege gate. There may be patrols in the nearby mountains and forests, but there shouldn't be people all the time. As long as you are not particularly unlucky, you can avoid it by being cautious."
Chen Lie said this and looked at Chen Dashan, and asked, "Can we try to take a longer route to avoid the bandits and get to the shelter from the mountains?"
It is unrealistic to go into the city to rescue people. Digging from the outside in and digging from the inside out are two different things. The population inside is too densely populated and there is almost no possibility of not being discovered. Not to mention saving people, I am afraid I will even die.
But if Shopkeeper Xu had already escaped, they could at least pick him up and bring him back to Yungu. Otherwise, if that group of bandits really occupied the county town, it would be very difficult for them to hide in that shelter for a long time or find other ways out.
Chen Dashan nodded: "Okay."
Everyone now has a lot of connections and they are not strangers, so they will naturally help if they can. It is not a big risk for them to sneak around the mountains, and they will do their best to repay their friendship.
Besides, Shen Jin and his children should be trapped in the city now. No matter how bad Shen San and Li are, the children are still good and blood relatives. Shen Lie can't bear to ignore them. I just don't know whether Shopkeeper Xu has come out, and whether he has the energy to take the children with him when he comes out. Chen Dashan himself finds it difficult to think about it. If Shen San and Li are both there, the possibility will be even lower, because it is too easy to be attacked from behind or killed by being held back. He wouldn't dare to do that.
He could only sigh and feel that his fate was over.
The lives of Shen Jin's children now really depend on luck.
I heard that the two of them were going to take the risk and go to the vicinity of the county town. Wei Qinghe didn't even mention how to thank them. This trip was quite dangerous. It was easy for Chen Lie and Chen Dashan to get away, but it was not certain that they could take Wei Qinghe with them.
He told the Zhou father and son to be careful recently and try to hide and not come out. He said goodbye to the father and son, left some food for Wei Qinghe, and asked him to hide in the shelter that Shen Lie had dug for Shen Jin and others and wait for a few days until they came to meet up.
Wei Qinghe was really ashamed, as he had originally gone there to rescue his brother-in-law, but now Chen Lie and Chen Dashan had gone, and he, the legitimate brother-in-law, had been arranged to take shelter here.
But Chen Lie and the others had made it clear that taking him along would not only fail to guarantee his safety, but he might also become a burden.
It's all true.
Before leaving, Wei Qinghe thanked them again and again, and after the two left, he hid in the shelter.
…
At the same time, on the top floor of Qiyang County, Shen San saw the man who had just carried the rolling log up with him having half of his head chopped off by a bandit who almost succeeded in climbing the city wall. The bandit who had just chopped off the civilian's head was beheaded by the soldiers guarding the city the next moment, and one of the heads just hit Shen San's face.
Shen San howled miserably, and was so frightened that his soul nearly left his body. He knocked the flying head away, and didn't care about the rolling log or the steamed bun anymore. He crawled and rolled to escape under the city wall in a panic.
Before Li had the chance to go out to watch over the steamed buns that day, she saw Shen San rushing back with blood all over his face, looking like a lost soul. He grabbed a cloth towel, dipped it in water, and began to wipe his face frantically. When he saw the blood brought down by the cloth towel, he trembled like a sieve.
"What's wrong with you?"
Just after asking one question, the fear suppressed in Shen San's heart seemed to have found an outlet all of a sudden, and he threw the bloody cloth at Li's face: "Don't be so reckless and take a knife or a gun in the future. I can also take a knife. If you want to die, then die. Whoever wants to be a civilian can go. Anyway, I will starve to death and will not go up again. If you don't have food, you can eat dirt!"
…
Chen Lie and Chen Dashan really took a long detour. The bandits who attacked the city had obviously gained some experience coming all the way south. Although they besieged the city, they arranged sentries at important places in the rear to prevent reinforcements or other forces from coming in and outflanking them from the rear. So Chen Lie and Chen Dashan took two whole days just to avoid these sentries. It was not until the eighth day of May that they finally found the shelter they had dug for Manager Xu.
They opened the shelter to let in some air, but there was no sound from inside. Chen Lie called out to Shopkeeper Xu, but there was no response. Both of them felt very disappointed.
After Chen Lie went down, he found that there was a lot of food in the shelter, but there was no one. After Chen Dashan closed the lid, he also went down in the dark. Chen Lie whispered, "I'm afraid Manager Xu won't have a chance to come out."
After leaving the shelter, they sneaked into a dense forest where they could watch the battle from a distance.
The siege was less intense.
Chen Dashan looked at it and said, "This looks like a siege?"
Just looking at this side of the city gate, the bandit army is probably more than a thousand people. How many garrisons can a small county town in Qiyang have? The troops have an advantage, but they can't capture it in one fell swoop. If they choose to besiege the city, then there is a high probability that people outside know that besieging the city can win.
Shen Lie tightened his grip: “I’m afraid there’s a shortage of food in the city.”
But what can I do even if I know? In the end, there is nothing I can do.
Chen Dashan sighed: "Let's go back and wait a few more days to see."
Even digging a tunnel to escape would take time.
The two did not dare to stay for long, so they sneaked back to the shelter to hide and wait for someone who might escape.
…
Just as Shen Lie guessed, there was indeed a food shortage in Qiyang County.
There was no shortage of soldiers, nor of wealthy households and county residents who had previously stockpiled sufficient food. However, one or two percent of the impoverished native city dwellers and two or three percent of the villagers had begun to run short of food.
Especially the villagers, who had been eating wild vegetables mixed with some bean dregs for several months. Now that they have moved into the city, they have nowhere to get wild vegetables. With too many people, how long can they survive with those little vegetables as meals?
After living in the city for nearly half a month, the poorest people whose food and grain had been robbed have gradually run out of even vegetable leaves.
They had no food left. There was no one in the county government office, so they went to beg for food, but no one dared to do so. So they could only start eating tree bark, grass roots, leaves and insects in the corners of the county town.
But there were not many of these things in the county town to begin with, and they could not withstand so many people digging at them. In the end, they started to take the straw from the shacks and pound it into powder to eat. They were not satisfied with the straw powder, so they even ate soil.
The first and only meal that Shen Jin and his siblings had that day was just a piece of earth cake.
Pick out the stones in the loose soil, sift it in water and wash it to get the fine soil. Chop the rotten vegetable leaves into small pieces, add some dried wild vegetables, and the soybean residue and bran from six or seven soybeans, and make soil cakes with the soil.
Shen Jin shed tears as he opened his mouth, took a small bite, and swallowed it without daring to chew.
When people are extremely hungry, even earth cakes are delicious and soil can be swallowed.
Shen Jin was still crying, but the youngest two, Chen Tie and Shen Tian, were no longer afraid. They stuffed food into their mouths, choked, and then held the bowl of water to pour it into their mouths.
Li was already numb. She had tried every possible means but still couldn't get anything to eat.
She could only hold on to the last handful of soybeans, a small bag of dried wild vegetables and bran, hoping to survive one more day.
As long as the garrison wins, they can go out of the city to find food and survive.
Every time at this moment, she would think, if she had escaped at that time, no, she could not bear to leave her children behind, but if she had left Shen Jin in the cave, if she had left Shen Jin in the cave, he would have had the soybeans and dried meat, and he could have caught some pheasants and rabbits himself. Why would he be trapped in the city and eat dirt like now?
There are no ifs.
If only, if I had not treated the eldest brothers and sisters badly, I would not be in such a situation with no one to protect me now.
People have to pay for the bad things they have done, it’s just a matter of sooner or later.
Only Shen San said nothing.
He didn't want to die, so he would rather eat wild vegetables and earth cakes than go up to the city wall. Eating earth for a long time would kill people, but he could hold on for one day at a time. Maybe he could hold on until he got out.
He held out a glimmer of hope.
However, he still thought too well.
Sometimes, war is something you can't avoid even if you don't want to. The garrison suffered more than 600 casualties, and the city gates on both sides could no longer be defended, so they directly captured able-bodied men in the city.
When there was a commotion in the county school area, Shen San heard the noise, stuck his head out to take a look, realized something was wrong, grabbed the dirt cake and ran away.
The villagers did not have a specific list, so Feng Jin, a soldier who was conscripting young men, went to the Shen family's shack and saw that there were no adult men. He then went to the next house, allowing Shen San to escape the disaster temporarily.
…
On the western outskirts of the city, the Xu family had dug a long section of their tunnel, which was only about ten feet away from the city wall. The tightly closed gate of the courtyard was suddenly slammed.
"Open the door!"
Wei Lingzhen, who was carrying soil out, was startled when he heard the noise.
He did not dare to answer, and returned to the room where the tunnel was dug. He asked his second son to quickly enter the tunnel to find the old servant Uncle Xu, and then he tiptoed to lock the room where the earth was piled, and then he retreated.
The person outside the door was impatient and kicked it directly: "Open the door, do you hear me?"
Wei Lingzhen retreated in fear. The old servant Xu Shu came out, checked the ground and found that there was no loose soil. He waved his hand to signal the hostess to hide in the tunnel. He also locked the room where the tunnel was being dug. Then he approached the door and asked in a trembling voice, "Who is it?"
"Garrison conscription, open the door!"
Uncle Xu's heart skipped a beat, but he still opened the door, nodded and bowed, "General."
The soldier held a roll of names in his hand, checked them, raised his head and asked, "Xu Zhong?"
Xu Zhong nodded: "Yes, yes, it's me, old man."
The soldier peeked inside and asked, "Why did it take so long to open the door? Is anyone else home?"
Uncle Xu shook his head and said, "I am just an old man. I happened to be passing through Qiyang County and got stuck here, so I found this house to live in. I didn't dare to open the door because there were too many villagers knocking on the door to beg for food recently. It's really unsafe for me to live alone."
What he said matched the record on the list, so the soldier said without further ado, "Okay, then follow us."
Uncle Xu bowed his waist, looking embarrassed: "At my age, I can't defend the city."
The soldier said impatiently, "Your business is yours."
Xu Zhong was just pretending, thinking about the safety of the master's family hiding inside, and had no intention of refusing, so he just acted timid and said, "Okay, then, wait a minute, General, I'll get a lock and lock the yard."
He locked the gate from the outside and followed the person who came.
The Xu family covered their mouths in the main room, not daring to breathe. It was not until the footsteps outside the door faded away that Wei Lingzhen asked in a low voice, "What should we do?"
Shopkeeper Xu was also worried, but he had no other choice but to comfort his wife: "It's okay. Uncle Xu is old and he probably won't go up to the tower. Guards always let people come back to rest and take turns guarding the city. Let's hurry up and dig the tunnel so that Uncle Xu can escape."
Wei Lingzhen's eyes turned red and she nodded: "Okay."
Without further delay, he entered the tunnel, picked up the shovel that Uncle Xu had used and started working.
…
Chen San fled like a stray dog for more than half a day, and finally settled down at night. The few earthen cakes he had eaten in the morning could no longer satisfy his hunger, and he hid behind the shacks and moved back with a rumbling stomach.
As I moved forward, I smelled the aroma of meat.
His steps moved uncontrollably over there, straight to the door of the shack where the aroma of meat was wafting from. He stared at the clay pot where the meat was bubbling. It was not until the person inside looked at him that he with difficulty moved his gaze away from the pot and looked at the person in the shack.
Looks a little familiar.
Seeing Wang Meiniang curled up in the corner of the bed, he suddenly realized: "Wang family's son-in-law?"
Looking at the huge pot of meat soup, he was so greedy that he licked his face and said, "The man of Mei Niang's niece, then he is also half my niece-in-law, that..."
He swallowed his saliva when he said this: "Then the soup, can you give me a few mouthfuls of the soup? No need for meat, just some soup, I'm so hungry."
The three Wang brothers looked at each other and smiled: "Uncle?"
He nodded his chin towards Wang Meiniang and said, "Give your uncle a bowl and add two pieces of meat."
Wang Meiniang was shaking like a sieve, but she didn't dare to refute at all. She took the bowl with trembling hands.
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