"I was born in the spring of the forty-second year of Wanli, in the summer of the seventh year of Chongzhen, just two months after I turned thirteen.
I will never forget everything that happened that summer; to use the words of some old people, it was when I met a noble person in a disaster that I turned disaster into good fortune and changed my destiny."
Under a large old locust tree at the head of the village, Li Siping, who was already gray-haired, opened his mouth with only a few teeth left.
He murmured this to the younger generation and the dolls surrounding him.
Even though the above and the following contents have been said countless times in his mouth, the people in front of him have also heard it countless times.
But just like before, when Li Siping, who is respectfully called the Fourth Great Grandpa in the village, talks about these contents, people from the Lijia Village gather around and never tire of listening.
Even this year, according to Tatars, is already the thirty-ninth year of Kang Mazi.
That happened more than 60 years ago, but everything that happened in that summer has changed over the years.
Not only has it not been diluted, but it has become a legend among everyone's private word of mouth.
After listening to these stories, some young people in the village can't sleep at night. They use an adjective from the modern dimension, that is:
Falling asleep with a knife on my pillow, I wish I had been born sixty years earlier...
In the story Li Siping has told countless times, the content is as follows:
I remember clearly that that year, when we were just harvesting the crops in the fields, we heard that the Tatars broke through the border from Datong Town and Xuanhua Town and plundered everywhere.
They are like locusts. As long as they cross the border, they will seize all the people they see, rob them of all their belongings, and if there is even the slightest resistance or scolding, they will kill without mercy.
In their eyes, human life is as worthless as weeds on the roadside.
What should the young and old in Lijia Village do at that time? They can only stay at home and pray to God to keep the Tatars from coming. As the old saying goes, good people leave their hometown and seek refuge elsewhere. How can we ordinary people live?
In the end, it was useless to pray to God. In the hottest dog days of early July, the Tatar army still appeared.
They rode their tall horses and opened the earthen fence in the village. At that time, my mother saw that something was wrong and stuffed me, the youngest in the family, into a small cellar that had been abandoned long ago.
Before the board was put up, my mother told me that no matter what I heard, I must not come out.
I listened to my mother's words and survived.
No matter how chaotic it was outside, no one came out crying or shouting, and the Tatars did not find the cellar entrance blocked by straw.
After a day and a night passed, I was hungry and thirsty. When I couldn't stand it anymore, I secretly pushed open the wooden board from inside and climbed out.
As soon as I came out, I was so scared that I sat on the ground.
Why? If you say the Tatars rob things, then just rob them. They also kill people.
There were dead people everywhere in the village. I glanced over and saw my father, my mother, my eldest brother Daping, my second brother Erping, the pregnant sister-in-law next door, and Mr. Li, a boy in his fifties.
Many people in the village were also killed, and their bodies were everywhere.
Before leaving, the village had been burned to almost a white ground by the Tatars. When I came out, many places were still smoking.
I'm not afraid of your jokes. How old was I at that time? I was only a boy and a half?
I was so frightened that I sat on the ground and started crying. After my voice became hoarse from crying, I thought about drinking some water, then I dug a hole and buried my two brothers.
At this time, there were seven or eight more people in the village, all of whom had escaped from the Tatars.
After hearing my cry, he crawled out from where he was hiding, but at this time, everyone had no intention of talking to each other.
Everyone was crying and working hard, burying their own family members first.
Then they worked together to bury other people.
After I got up from the ground, I first walked to a well in the village, which is the well that is now dead in front of Lao Shitou's house, and wanted to get some water to drink.
When I got to the place, I saw that it was full of corpses that had been soaked until they were swollen...
When he said this, Li Siping was already skillfully rolling a trumpet cigarette in his hand while talking.
After lighting it and taking two or three puffs, I started coughing violently.
By the way! If Yang Dongli and others saw such a scene, they would definitely find that the old man was rolling a cigarette, smoking, and his posture was very similar to their commander who rushed to the street.
****
Under the bright moonlight, everything in the countryside was so quiet; even the naughty children were attracted by Li Siping's story.
There was no talking or noisy, and they all plunged their thoughts into that extremely difficult year.
Only in the surrounding areas, the chirping of crickets and the coughing and murmuring voice of an old man kept ringing under the big locust tree:
After digging three large pits outside the village, not to mention finding a thin coffin, not even a finished straw mat could be found in the village that had long been burnt to ashes.
I had no choice but to bury my parents and two brothers.
Father and mother were buried together, so they were buried together.
After doing this, I was confused with a hoe. My family was gone, my home was gone, and the last bite of food was taken away by the Tatars.
Next, I don't know what to do?
The remaining eight people in Lijiacun gathered under this old locust tree and began to discuss what should be done in the future.
Maybe I want to go to Loess Fort to see if I can find some work there to make a living.
But I heard that the city gate had been closed long ago and no one was allowed to enter.
At this time, a man riding a tall horse appeared. The man was wearing a tattered mandarin duck battle coat, which was the familiar dress of the Ming Dynasty frontier army.
After he stopped at the end of the village, he shouted at the top of his lungs:
"My name is Zhao Fugui, and I was originally a Ye Bu Shuan of Sui Yu Dun. This time I hid in Sui Feng Dun and saved my life from the Tatars.
But my parents who were farming in Jingweitun were killed by the Tatars like chickens and ducks.
My wife and children were all taken away; now they are being driven out of the pass by the Tatars like big animals, together with the few possessions we have at home.
Judging from the appearance of you people, you must be similar to me, Zhao Fugui.
The hatred of parents, the hatred of breaking up the family, what should we do with these?
The last morsel of food in the family was either snatched away by the Tatars or burned completely by them. There is still so much time until next year to harvest food. How should we live?
Let me tell you, don't think about Wang Caoguan and Zhou Baihu, those gentlemen now hiding in Loess Fort.
When they saw the Tatars, they were so frightened that they would pee their pants. They would only hide in fear behind the walls of the Loess Fort and would not send out a single soldier; let alone avenge us, save our families, and take back their families.
But Brother Hu Biao said, since we can’t rely on God or those officials, then we have to rely on ourselves.
All of them are capable men. Instead of crying here and crying the Tatars to death? Why not fight with the Tatars, kill all the Tatars, save their families, and get back the food.
Either way, death is the same. If you drag a Tatar to the 18th level of hell before you die, that would be a pleasure, right?
I'm not afraid of scaring you, just two days ago.
Brother Hu Biao, led by brothers Dunzhong, and 32 of our soldiers, withstood repeated attacks by the Tatar army, killing and wounding at least 300 Tatars.
Now, all the brave men should go to Suifeng Dun to report to Brother Hu Biao.
Brother Hu Biao also said that now the best wine and meat in his hands are gone, but the Tatars have enough flesh and blood, so go and find them if you can sow them, and he will lead you to take a big bite of the Tatars' flesh and blood."
After saying that, the soldier didn't say anything, and he patted his horse and ran towards the direction sign of Majiagou, which was further away.
But at that time, everything was different in my heart.
I felt an indescribable surge of heroic spirit rising directly from my lower abdomen and directly to the Tianling Cap, giving me strength all over my body.
It's strange to say that the hot weather, which had been without a breath of wind for several days, suddenly started to blow with strong winds.
At that time, I raised my head and looked at the sky, and I could see that in a strong wind, the colorless clouds all over the sky were floating in great force.
