The coffin maker didn’t cry, he was just in disbelief.
I have been making coffins all my life, and this skill was finally used on my son.
At dusk, Du Laowu, who had a horse face, was called back from the old temple village by Cao Yao.
He collected three handfuls of millet from the coffin maker, lit the oil lamp and was so busy that he didn't even eat dinner. He tried his best to tidy up the body of a young man in his early twenties decently with limited materials.
Liu Chengzong didn't have a deep impression of this young man. He only remembered that he had lowered his head and asked softly about his experience as a soldier, saying that he didn't want to be a coffin maker.
But he was not cowardly, on the contrary, he valued land more than life, and eventually died bravely.
The refugees provided by the county government were put to use. Those who played the suona, those who ordered to visit the tombs, and those who carved letters all found jobs.
The elderly members of the clan pulled out the hidden ice reserved for themselves from the mountain cellar, placed it under the mourning hall and covered it with a quilt.
The cries overwhelmed the whispers of the clan's uncertain future. Liu Chengzong became impatient with this scene, so he changed into ragged clothes and lit a lantern and went to the wilderness of Beishan.
The lights are flickering, there is no one around, corpses are everywhere, the wind is cold and the blood is cold.
The palms are moistened and then astringent, again and again, and the wrist-releasing knife goes from sharp to dull, one after another.
Until I was out of breath, I dragged the last headless body into the pit and walked in the mud to the river outside the mountain.
The moonlight shining on the ground made him want to cry for no reason.
Self-blame, grievance.
In order to feed fifty mouths and make life better, I spent all my wealth to buy land.
I bought the land, got eighty more mouths to take care of, and attracted thieves.
The land that the tribesmen worked so hard to cultivate was completely gone in less than half a day.
The thieves are strangers to them and have no grudges against them. They don't even have the basic skills to use weapons. They are ordinary ordinary people.
But they must be killed, leaving corpses everywhere, and their heads will be removed when they die.
In another memory, nothing can be used for reference, no matter how much you know, it is useless.
What kind of world is this?
The Black Dragon Mountain at night is more frightening than ever, and the voice of Guo Zashi calling him from all over the valley is trembling.
The butcher bravely brought clean clothes.
Liu Chengzong said nothing, washed himself in the river that was as shallow as his wrists, put on his clothes and went back to sleep.
In the next two days, Mahu Liu En went to the county government to report but did not come back, making people wonder if another member of the Black Dragon Mountain tribe had died outside.
Liu Chengzu was so busy that he never touched the ground. After experiencing the first battle, the soldiers in the countryside were extremely polarized.
Some people say they don't want to fight anymore, some people train harder than usual, and some even ask to practice every day.
Anyway, since the ground was broken, they had a lot of time.
Mr. Liu said he was resting, but he couldn't. First, a tenant got into trouble. Seeing that he couldn't pay the rent, the whole family hung themselves from the beams at night.
Later, clan members fled again, and six families fled the next night.
The clan members gathered in the ancestral hall to discuss, only to find out that two families actually wanted to run away the day before. They met a ghost with teeth and claws at the mountain pass, thinking that the ancestors had appeared to prevent them from running away, so they came back again.
The description is amazing.
Liu Chengzong felt that it might not be his ancestor, but him bathing naked in the river.
The fields in Heilongshan were severely damaged, and the fields that were already not growing well will have to lose another 60% of their output.
Not many were actually cut off by the hungry people. When they took them away, the green millet was eaten anyway.
The most uncomfortable thing is that most of the fields were trampled when hungry people running away to collect millets in the ridges.
People still stay here, just hoping that Liu En can bring good news from the county government and give them some money to cover the expenses of their escape.
Mr. Liu returned all the borrowed grain, which was meaningless.
The crops in the fields don’t even have enough seeds for summer and autumn crops. It’s only a matter of time before the entire Black Dragon Mountains run out of food.
This is also the reason why many tribesmen practice hard in their later lives, and learn the skills to be good at calamity.
If we really want to talk about the advantages of this battle, there is indeed one.
The backbone of the hungry thieves was wiped out, and the young subordinates were beaten to pieces, leaving a large number of weapons in Black Dragon Mountain.
Earlier, they could not even collect the swords and spears of the front team, but now they have hundreds of spears and short spears, not to mention the thieves' heads.
There has been a lot of chaos in the mountains these past two days. The mature and prudent clan elders discussed and discussed in the ancestral hall, but no one could come up with a reliable solution.
Every household's rice vat and noodle vat will be empty before July. Selling the new grain in the field will probably be enough to pay the summer tax, but the wheat planted before and after Bailu will have to be borrowed elsewhere.
But even if this thing doesn't die from drought, it won't mature until next May.
Not counting the few families who escaped, Heilongshan has a population of more than 500, including two groups of frontier troops and 80 farmers.
Even based on the standard of not starving to death, one hundred shi of food is needed every month.
Even if they borrow money at usurious rates, it would be difficult to find a big business owner around Yan'an Prefecture who could lend them a thousand shi of grain.
There are not many choices left for them. They can either flee to Guanzhong. If they stay here, they can only find ways to find food and survive.
Liu Chengzong took off the blue cloth mask on the thief's head at home and added nail plates to his own armor.
The thief's head helmet was very good. After cleaning it, I gave it to Guo Zashi.
The quality of the armor plates of the cloth armor is also very good, but it is also a military coat with insufficient armor plates.
Combined with Liu Chengzong's original cotton armor, there were only 380 armor pieces.
His mother asked him to remove the cotton lining, but he refused and only washed the inner and outer layers of fabric.
It is easy to remove the armor now, but he is just afraid that when the weather gets colder in a few months, the turbulent environment will not allow him to put the cotton lining back on.
It wasn't until the fifth day that Liu En brought back the news from Fucheng.
Due to the large number of thieves in the territory, Yan'an City was under martial law for three days, with no one allowed to go out and no one allowed to enter. It was not until yesterday that people were allowed to enter the city.
There is chaos outside the city. Hungry thieves from the south are plundering everywhere, bringing great enlightenment to the refugees outside the city.
Many refugees depended on the meager soup and water provided by the porridge factory every day. This time, the city gate was closed and the porridge factory was closed for three days. Dozens of people starved to death outside the North Gate alone.
Those who still had the strength formed gangs to plunder everywhere. There was also news among the refugees that people outside the city ganged up to eat corpses.
The people living in Guanxiang outside the city were so frightened by the disaster that even their children had to carry hatchets when going out. Their families were starved to death and they did not dare to bury them, so they could only bury them at home. If that was not possible, they would bury them in large vats and urns.
As for the matter with the head, the county government also did not send good news.
The government officials are unwilling to leave the city, so they need to send the head to the capital for inspection. The county government will report the matter to Xi'an, but the trade route has not yet been opened, and it is still unknown whether a silver reward can be given.
"The county government also has no money. As the official said, if the heads are correct, what the county can do is reward thirteen people with promotions to one rank as usual."
Liu En sighed and said in the ancestral hall: "The fourth master and the two talented men will be given nine-grade crowns and honorary bodies, and the other ten will be given to the righteous people with outstanding honors and exemptions, and they will be exempted from chores for five years. If you want to be an official, you will be given to Yan'an Guards."
If we actually teach three general flags and ten small flags, the county can provide them."
Liu Chengzong's expression can no longer be described as ugly.
At this point, the title given by the imperial court to an outstanding young man is of no use.
Being an official is even more of a joke. Let’s not talk about whether the general flag and the small flag can be called officials. Just look at the vacancy situation in Yan’an Guard. The officers and soldiers are risking their lives and fleeing. They kill thieves and perform meritorious service and go in?
They clapped their hands together and looked at Liu Xiangyu: "Da, the situation is like this. The sooner you rob, the sooner you die. The sooner you rob, the sooner you die. We can't escape. We have to choose one."