Faithful to Buddha, Faithful to You

Chapter 74: Woe to the Horn

At the beginning of the second month of the lunar calendar, in mid-March, the gates of the city were closed for the first time for more than a month. The aunt gathered on both sides of the street in a vegetable manner, and her face was forced to greet the rebellious Lu Guangjun. After nearly three months of snow finally melted away under the warmth of early spring, buried in the streets for a long time, Lusho rushed to clean it up again yesterday, but still had trouble hiding the wolves after the famine.

When Lu Guangjun entered the city, the gong drums sounded, and the lively atmosphere was an indifferent face. The flag flew, clustered with Lu Guangma slowly walking, beside Lu Luhong and his nephew Lu Lung Lu suddenly raised his chest. After the horseback rider's leader, he was a team of soldiers. The black face was full of tiredness, the cotton jacket was dilapidated, and the dirty cotton flock was turned out. Only the big word "pawn” behind him could be clearly seen far away. Lu Guang had 50,000 men with him when he left, and Lu Hong had more than 30,000 men with him when he came back, and based on the cohort's rough estimate, it was probably more than 30,000. You're missing more than half.

After the soldier's regiment, it was a sizeable cattle convoy. It's in the car. Look at the shape. It's grain! The hungry aunt residents finally rioted after seeing the car's food. The crowd burst into cheer and congested the streets, but was stopped by soldiers who maintained order on the streets. A thin hand reached out and grabbed in the air hopelessly.

With so much food, Lu Guang will definitely not take the rest of the war with him. Where else can we find food in this disaster? I watched the Lu clan's toes high at the street entrance and laughed in my heart.

For more than one hundred and thirty years, the Sixteen Kingdoms have opened their history books and often seen just a few lines of words:

“is old, starving. ”

“Hunger, pestilence. ”

“Drought, disease, rice balls. ”

“Jing, Yu, Xu, Yang, Ji Wuzhou Big Water. ”

We have always said that China is big, but the truth is, the land is big and the things are not. Due to geographical differences between East and West and North, natural disasters occur in local areas every year. Resources can be redeployed locally during national reunification. What about areas that are divided or where the royal family is too corrupt to feed? You can only rob people. So natural disasters are often combined with man-made disasters. In times of division or dynasty near extinction, there are numerous records of natural disasters in the history books, which superstitious people always interpret with condemnation. In fact, the State was unable to allocate resources, and famine and war were inextricably linked.

So Lu Guang marched out, the first was the rebellion, the second was the grain grab. Throughout this historical period, in addition to the early death of Zhang's family, the remaining four cold-sided countries, combined with Xiqin in the Qinghai Gannan area, the five countries are weak but still in war. From an economic point of view, what if the country is so small that it is unable to resume production and the people cannot survive? Instead of allowing the population to unravel in the country, it would be better to divert contradictions from foreign warfare. If you win, you can plunder others. But the country is powerful, such as after the Yao family, Qin, can't fight. So, just pick a fight. After decades of fighting, when men who can truly achieve reunification emerge, these small countries, one by one, fall apart under the trend of reunification.

And who, the monarchs, really cares about the people when disaster strikes? The founder of North Wei promoted Guigui as a hero. During the war with Yan, the plague was endemic. He asked about the epidemic, and his men replied: "Only four or five out of ten people live.” And his reaction was, "It's fate, it's unthinkable. Luckily, there are people everywhere, not afraid that no one can enlist in the army.” More than half of the soldiers are dead, the people are dying, the history books are undocumented, and there will be more.

Wang Xiao said in "Seven Lamentations": “Go out and see nothing, white bones cover the plains. There are hungry women on the road, holding their children in the grass abandonment room, sniffing and crying, waving alone; ‘How can two phases end when the unknown body dies!’" These tragedies are happening all over the land in this era. Looking at the extraordinary Lu people who were immediately proud of themselves, it was difficult to recover their grief. Why is this group of people in power? Why is it that the lowest of times is human life?

Lu Guang announced loudly in front of the drum tower with the largest concentration of the crowd: Ping rebellion victory, is God bless Liangzhou. Whoever is a citizen of Auntie Town may receive food by registration. The displaced, on the other hand, receive wheat crops and immediately return to their homeland for cultivation upon registration. Any land abandoned during desertification can be recovered. Now that it is spring, Lu Guang does not want the next fall harvest to be free of food.

This is good news, but there is no hope for Lu Guang. Long live Mountain Hou. It can be seen that Lu Guang is a little sluggish. Lu Shao hastily argued that the displaced were all outside the city and that he would go to promulgate the kindness of the Ryongwang.

The gates are finally open to the general public. More than 200 members of our family, together with the residents who had left the city to collect firewood, flowed across the suspension bridge and walked to the mountain forest where the most affected people outside the city were concentrated.

The mountain south of the city is not high but covers a large area, facing the gate of the city with a number of kiln holes left by the poor. This is where Auntie City residents come most often to collect firewood and where cemeteries are most concentrated. We come here every day when disaster strikes, so we are familiar with the terrain. Once again, the initial surprise was that there was not a single tree left in the mountains, and even the grass roots were lifted completely, leaving only a bald mountain bag.

Climb the steps to the first level of the kiln cave area. What you see along the way is a slightly raised pile of soil, so that the high, low, small pile of soil, at a glance, is distributed irregularly across the entire hillside.

Dozens of kiln holes blackened Coldson's mouth, and I remembered that quote in Jin Shu, and the closer I got, the more timid I was. Stalling behind Rosh, he grabbed his sleeve and said bitterly, "Rosh, don't come any closer. ”

“What's the matter? Why do you look so ugly?” He held me up, greeted me, handed me over to her, "you rest here, Rosh will be back in a minute. ”

Ting helped me sit on the stone beside him, and he kept moving forward, and more than two hundred people we sheltered were rushing up. Many of them have been forced to break up with their loved ones and have not seen each other for more than a month. I looked at those women, children, children and children, and suddenly I turned my head in fear as they crept back into the mountains.

“Sister Qing, what's wrong?” She shouted, pulling out her pap and pressing it on my lips, "Why is my nose bleeding? ”

I stunned, took off the pad, saw the red pieces, instantly my hands and feet were cold. What worries me the most, is it here?

“Sister Qing...”

Chestnut, covering his nose with his hands, looked up at her: “I'm fine. Don't tell anyone, especially the magician...”

Glimpse that Xiao Murong Chao and Hu Yanjing were also beside him, quickly set a certain god and steady his voice: “Ting Ting, take Superior and Jing back. Don't let them see...”

“See what? ”

I stared at her, my fist clenched, and a very uncomfortable stomach ache poured out of my chest. Take a breath, pressing down the nausea pouring down her throat, spitting hard word for word at her elegant eyes: “Man... phase... food...”

She was just about to scream, cover her mouth with a pad, look around, and scream. Looking down in her eyes, she was stepping on a burst of dirt, and the thin soil was inadvertently kicked open, revealing a piece of bone, sparsely a leg bone.

She looked white and grabbed me: "Sister Qing, I... let's go together. ”

I shook my head: "The magician is still here. I'm going to wait for him to walk with me. ”

Pull a reassuring smile at her: "Take the kids and go, we'll be right back. ”

She looked at me with difficulty, nodded her head, called two children, told me to say a few words, and went back. I took a deep breath, told myself not to be afraid, and stood up and walked in Rosh's direction.

Before you get to the first kiln hole, you hear the scream of a thrill inside, and then someone runs out of the kiln hole. Carefully identified, the woman was our sister-in-law Liu, and a skinny man in the back couldn't help pulling her.

“How can you take Xiaosan...” Aunt Liu grabbed a man's collar and beat him to death with all her strength. She cried out like a beast, "You bastard, you put the child... you can't believe... you swapped with someone... ”

“I can't help it!” Men were left to beat Aunt Liu, and their skinny bodies could barely stand.

He stared numbly at a raw piece of meat on his hand, his mouth pulled, his teeth were exhausted, and he revealed a black tooth bed: “It's not hungry, who can bear it, who can eat it...”

The throat was punched with nausea and pressed hard. He dared not look at what was in his hand and hurried forward. The probe looked for Rosh at the entrance of a passing kiln, where only a few people were sitting around in the sunlight coming through the door. Previously, when we came to relief, every kiln was crammed with twenty or thirty people, and now there are only four or five people left to die of freezing and starvation, excluding those who were conscripted to war.

When the crowd saw me, their heads were raised and their mouths were red. The nearest old man to me looked at me with no expression and continued to chew down what was in his hand. When I saw what he was eating, I couldn't stand it any longer, and I threw up yellow bile over the river. That's a hand. He's holding a hand!

“Girl, are you hungry?” The old man still sat on the ground, stretching his hand out to me, swaying in my field of view with his dead grey palms.

“Everything that burns on all sides is burned. Don't bother, eating raw can also live...”

I turned around and ran out of the kiln, looking back at the cold sun. Why isn't the sun a little warm? Close your eyes, squeeze your fists, and yell at the cold sun. Why should I see this with my own eyes? Tears blurred their gaze and shook while their shoulders were held. Turn around weakly and see Rosh with the same tears.

“Axel, you go back first.” He sucked his nose, shivering his body, his mouth shaking, “Stop looking...”

I stared at his merciful face and realized a little warmth. I finally returned to God and grabbed his arm dead, crying and crying: “It's my fault, I should have thought it would be like this. You come with me, don't see these again..."

“Axel, you knew that already, didn't you? ”

I cried and murmured the record that tortured me for more than three months: “'When the valley was pricey, worth 500, people ate each other, too many dead. ’ ”

Swallow hard and hold your fists. Nails strangle into the flesh, and only if the pain brings a little sobriety will you have the courage to continue saying: "Rosh, this disaster has been so tragic for us that it has been so difficult to survive. But in a history book as smoky as a sea of smoke, only this short sixteen words are recorded! The reasons for the famine, when it began, when it ended, where it hit the worst, how it happened and how many people died were not mentioned. Because of this scourge, it is not surprising that it can be seen everywhere in the land of China! ”

Take a big breath and your body is like a pendulum. The chills shook and the voice shook: "But I dare not tell you, I don't want you to know this brutal ending sooner. ‘People eat each other, too many people die', this is not the only time, such a tragic situation will happen again in Liangzhou, even worse. I am unjust to the future, and nothing can change except knowing the end of a star and a half. But I did my best, I really did my best..."

“Aiqing...” He held me hard, buried his head in my neck, tears slipped down my neck, "You suffered more than Rosh... don't hold it in your heart like this in the future, don't endure the pain of knowing everything by yourself. We're husband and wife, you tell me. Whatever the dilemma, we bear it together. ”

Tears dripped onto his shoulders and melted into a semi-old monk's robe. As he was about to speak, he suddenly saw a skinny hand reaching up like a dead branch and grabbing Rosh's corner. Rosh was shocked and rushed to pull me behind. A man who was dying and had only one breath of bone left, he couldn't see how old he was, climbed under our feet, looked up hard, and said in a faint voice: "Master, I'm dying... can you read me the Sutra? You give me more sutra, more virtue. So that I can go to a place where I can have plenty of food in my next life, and I can eat a bun of white noodles every day. How nice..."

With Rosh's hand in his corner, he drowned helplessly, and Rosh hurried him over and felt his hand beneath his nose, no longer breathing. Rosh leaned over, his eyebrows closed, and he was intolerant. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and mumble the scriptures around him. He half-closed his eyes and prayed faithfully for this unnamed man. The Sanskrit sings along the cold winds of the early spring and disperses in the cold sun, passing into the kiln caves of the entire hillside.

At the bottom of the kiln, people come out, hold each other, and come around to Rosh. There are also people walking out of the kiln on the hillside above, slowly gathering here. Rosh's lean body shines in the sun like the backlight of Bodhisattva. Mumbling about him in the Scriptures, this moment is so sacred that it shines an irresistible and holy light. It seems like there is a strong focus that attracts people to convert for the rest of their lives after the robbery.

“Mage! Read a scripture for me. I'm guilty!” A man shouted in mourning, suddenly kneeling, and came crawling all the way to Rosh, and in front of us, he kowtowed like an onion, "I ate a man, ate three, traded for my own children, daughter-in-law, and mother. Will Buddha forgive me? I'm going to hell, aren't I? ”

Listening to him, the others who came to Rosh also knelt down, cried, waves higher than waves, as if they were in shock.

“Master, I've also changed my children's food. Damn it, I will definitely go to hell, just please read the sutra for my child...”

“Mage, and me. Read the scriptures for my mother. She has suffered so much that she will be eaten. I hope she doesn't have such a cruel son in her next life...”

“Master, who hasn't eaten? Who's not wearing a dead man's clothes? Which is not a fleeing family, there's only one left? There are more people buried in this mountain than alive...”

Rosh stood upside down to the people on his knees, trying to pull them up, but no one was willing to stand up.

“I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Roshburn is incapable of keeping a man from starving to death, but he can't protect his life!” He wept and bowed his slender body, beating his chest in pain. I wiped my tears with my sleeves and rushed forward to grab him.

“Master, don't blame yourself. You've done your best!” Hu Yanping also reached this empty space, shouting loudly, tears in his eyes. Behind him are 200 people sheltered by us. He took the lead and knelt on the ground, and the people behind him brushed on their knees and bowed solemnly to us.

Hu Yanping's face was covered with tears, his hands held up, and he looked up at Rosh: “Without you, it would be difficult for more than two hundred of us to escape from eating or being eaten. You saved us, Mage. You're our regenerating parents. I will never forget it! ”

Rosh went to Lakhuyenping, but in vain. He went to pull the man behind Hooyan Ping again, and he couldn't pull. I cried with him and my voice blended into the crying ocean, shaking the whole naked mountain.

A group of people walked up the hill. Led by Lu Shao and Lu Hong. They're standing behind Monson, and Du Jin and Dunye are here. A group of people stood in the midst of trembling tears, and everyone looked at the tens of thousands of surviving displaced people on this hillside, as well as the center of the displaced - Rosh...