I

  Chapter 2 002 [Grab a dog-beating stick at the beginning]

  Zhao Han was in a daze and didn't wake up completely, only feeling hungry and thirsty.

   In a trance, his lips and teeth touched the crock, and he subconsciously opened his mouth to drink.

  The cold porridge with soil and gravel was poured into his stomach like this, so Zhao Han recovered his spirits, and when he opened his eyes, he saw a girl lying beside him.

   "Second brother, are you awake?" Zhao Zhenfang smiled with joy and tears, and her confused eyes instantly glowed.

   "I..." Zhao Han struggled to speak, but after only one word, his throat hurt like tearing.

  He wanted to support himself to get up, but felt weak all over, like a ghost pressing a bed. He is clearly conscious, but he can't control his body, he can't even move his fingers, as if the neck down doesn't belong to him.

   Gradually, Zhao Han fell asleep again.

  Zhao Zhenfang herself was very hungry, so she just stayed by her brother's side, ate up the leftover porridge, and even licked it all with her tongue while holding the earthen pot.

  Finally, the officials in Tianjin organized people to cross the bridge to collect the corpse.

  It is now summer, if hundreds of corpses are not disposed of, it will easily lead to plague.

   Those responsible for moving the corpses were all officers and soldiers from Tianjin City.

  Because of the severe desertion of soldiers and the expansion of the Tartars in Liaodong, the Tianjin New Army was formed in the last year of Wanli.

  The new army has a battalion system, which is not part of the guard system, and is allocated by the central finance. Excluding the "Zhenhai Battalion" and other coastal defense forces, there were more than 6,000 new troops inside and outside Tianjin, but only in the past ten years, only two or three thousand have escaped.

   Moreover, none of these two or three thousand new troops can fight, and they have long been reduced to a slave-like existence.

  In addition, there are thousands of guard soldiers in various places in Tianjin, who have been serving as serfs for the generals for generations.

   Inside and outside, the tens of thousands of officers and soldiers nearby were so frightened by dozens of horse bandits that they dared to come here now.

   "Little Fifth Brother, this one is still breathing."

   "I can't survive, and I will be dragged to the mass grave together."

   "I'm not injured, I'm just hungry, and I can still come back alive after drinking half a bowl of porridge."

   "You give him porridge?"

   "I can't even eat enough myself, how can I give him porridge?"

   "Then why are you talking nonsense?"

   Regardless of whether they are dead or alive, they are all loaded onto a cart and dragged to a nearby barren cemetery for simple burial.

   After going back and forth several times, they finally came to the Zhao family.

  Zhao Zhenfang threw herself on her father's body and screamed, "Don't touch my father!"

  Seeing her young age, a soldier couldn't help saying pitifully, "Oh, she's already dead. We'll bury your father."

  Zhao Zhenfang shook her head and said, "Daddy is not dead, but Daddy is asleep."

  The soldiers ignored it and moved to carry Zhao Chen's body.

   "Mom!"

  Zhao Zhenfang rushed over like crazy again, and these soldiers shook their heads again and again. It's just two corpses, and the little girl won't let them move them away, so they can just save trouble.

  Zhao Zhenfang managed to protect her parents' corpses, and when she saw the soldiers walking towards her elder brother, she quickly shouted: "That's my second elder brother!"

  A soldier sighed: "The co-authors are a family, it's very miserable."

  The soldier next to him said: "This little brother is not dead, his chest is still moving."

  The soldier leaned over and touched Zhao Han's forehead, shook his head and said, "I have a severe fever, so I have only one breath left."

  The soldiers left the Zhao family alone and ran to carry other corpses. Seeing that it was about to get dark, this was the last trip, and there were hundreds of corpses left to talk about tomorrow.

  The sun was setting and it was already dusk.

  Six-year-old Zhao Zhenfang was growling with hunger. Supporting her thin body, she dragged her second brother between her parents, and then stood there silently waiting for the dawn.

  Zhao Han woke up from hunger in the middle of the night, his head was dizzy, his stomach was hungry, and his whole body was weak.

   Climbing up with difficulty, by the dim moonlight, I can vaguely see the little girl next to me. She seemed to be extremely hungry, curled up even when she was sleeping, her little hands were covering her belly.

   This is the younger sister, Zhao Han suddenly remembered.

  No, I am the only child, where did I get my younger sister?

  Zhao Han shook his confused head and looked down at his clothes. I don't know what kind of material it is made of, but it feels rough to the touch anyway, and there are old patches everywhere, this kind of clothes even horse bandits don't like it.

  In the first year of Chongzhen, the new emperor ascended the throne?

  Zhao Han sat on the ground slumped, looking at the ancient starry sky, the absurdity of the matter was beyond his acceptance.

  He was born in an ordinary family in New China, and his academic performance was not bad since he was a child. Barely admitted to a key high school, but unfortunately failed to enter a key university, and can only study an ordinary undergraduate.

  Because he dreamed of being a soldier since he was a child, and saw a conscription banner at school, Zhao Han resolutely enlisted as a college student soldier.

   After working in the army for two years, Zhao Han did not apply for promotion, but returned to college to continue his studies after leaving the army.

  Seeing that I am about to graduate, I am thinking about whether to take the postgraduate entrance examination, or choose to take the civil service examination. Why did I come to ancient times?

   And it was the first year of Chongzhen!

   It seems that the Chongzhen Dynasty was only 17 years old. Zhao Han is not very sure, anyway, the end of the Ming Dynasty is not far away.

   Zhao Han knew the general history of the late Ming Dynasty, but had forgotten many details.

  His major is Chinese language and literature. He has studied ancient literature, philology, and classical philology. Unfortunately, he has not studied ancient history in depth.

  The health was really bad, and the high fever didn't subside, so Zhao Han fell asleep again in a daze.

  Woke up from hunger again in the morning, Zhao Han crawled and rummaged through nearby corpses, but found no food.

  The remaining hundreds of corpses have been rummaged several times. Not to mention leaving money and food, even better clothes were taken away by the officers and soldiers in charge of collecting the corpses.

   But Zhao Han was really hungry, his eyes were red with hunger, his stomach hurt like a knife, and he had an urge to bite human flesh.

  Looking at those corpses, Zhao Han really wanted to pounce on them and take a few bites.

   "Second brother, I'm hungry..."

  Zhao Zhenfang didn't know when she woke up, maybe she was hungry, maybe she was frightened yesterday, and she was very depressed at the moment.

  Zhao Han still remembered that when he woke up yesterday, the little girl fed him porridge. Regardless of whether it was due to the remaining family affection or to repay the other party's life-saving grace, he should also take care of this younger sister, and immediately comforted him: "Don't be afraid, the second brother will find you something to eat."

   There is no food to be found at all!

  The bark of nearby trees has been stripped off by hungry people, and even the weeds on the river bank have withered and turned yellow. Most of the water in the canal has dried up, exposing the mudflat of the river bed, cracked and cracked a palm-wide opening.

  Zhao Han wanted to find insects and add some protein, but there was nothing but mosquitoes.

  The ground is so dry that it is difficult for a **** to dig it out, and there is no need to even think about earthworms.

  Zhao Han picked up two pieces of broken crock pots, dragged his sister to the center of the official road, and tried to meet passers-by to beg for food.

   After only standing for a few minutes, Zhao Han's body was obviously unable to hold on, and he was so light that he could be blown away by a gust of wind, so he just knelt down and pretended to be pitiful.

  Zhao Zhenfang suddenly reminded: "Second brother, father said that the husband is alive, and he only kneels to the emperor, relatives and teachers, and does not kneel to beg for food."

   "It's the food that comes." Zhao Han corrected.

  Zhao Zhenfang said: "Yes, it's the food that comes from you."

  Zhao Han asked back: "Did the father ever say that a man should be able to bend and stretch?"

  Zhao Zhenfang shook her head.

  Zhao Han sighed: "Standing is stretching, kneeling is bending. Kneeling now is for standing in the future. Kneeling, anyway, I don't have the strength to stand still, so let's just kneel and rest."

  The two brothers and sisters knelt side by side in the official road, each holding a broken earthen jar, and the morning sun gradually rose.

   About two quarters of an hour later, a caravan came out of the city. Because the canal was dry and it was difficult to sail, they used mules and horses to carry them to the north.

  Zhao Han, who had never been begging before, saw the caravan getting closer, and quickly knelt down and picked up the earthen pot in his hand.

  But he didn't say a word, after all, he didn't have the nerve to beg.

   "Get out of the way, out of the way!"

   The person who was talking was the **** escort. Due to the rapid development of business, the world is not very peaceful. The **** industry has been booming in recent decades.

  Zhao Han was still holding the crock aloft. A strong **** came, grabbed him and his sister by the collars, and threw them to the side of the road like chickens.

  Zhao Han got up reluctantly, let go of his shame completely, knelt down and shouted: "Masters, please give me something to eat!"

  No one responded, they all turned a blind eye, and the long caravan passed in front of them.

   Not long after, another team came from Tianjin City. But the canal dried up, the water transport was cut off, and the imperial court pressed hard, and the grain was transferred by land.

   Those grain transport soldiers and civilians were dressed as poorly as Zhao Han, and some of them only had a crotch protector, pushing and pulling the grain carts forward under the scorching sun.

  The water transportation general responsible for transporting grain looked slick, riding a healthy horse leisurely, taking out a water bag from time to time to drink a few mouthfuls to quench his thirst. There are two hundred family members around him, all armored, and he is not afraid of small groups of bandits stealing food.

   "Second brother, I'm hungry."

  Zhao Zhenfang was hungry and thirsty, and was exposed to direct sunlight. She was exhausted and soon fell into a semi-comatose state.

  Tianjin soldiers went out of the city to collect the corpses again, Zhao Han did not stop them, and watched them remove the corpses of their parents.

  This body is only ten years old, Zhao Han struggled to carry his sister on his back, and after several attempts, he was so tired that he knelt down on his knees.

  Too hungry, no energy at all!

  Finally, Zhao Han lay down on the ground and said to Zhao Zhenfang: "Little sister, climb on the back of the second brother, let's go to the city to get food."

  Zhao Han lay on the ground, with his younger sister lying on his back, and crawled towards Tianjin like two wild dogs walking in a panic.

   Going to the city to beg for food, maybe it will be smoother.

  The fundamental thing right now is not to make any long-term plans, but to fill our stomachs and survive first.

  The city of Tianjin was built at the mouth of the Sancha River, and the moat can only be reached by crossing the canal.

  More than 20 years ago, there was a flood in Tianjin, and the north and south city walls collapsed by more than 70 feet. Until now, the government has no money to repair the city.

  Due to the dryness of the canal, a large number of ships were stranded, and grain and commodities urgently needed to be transshipped by land. Therefore, the North Canal, which had no bridge, now has a temporary wooden bridge. The government was afraid that refugees and bandits would cross the river, so there were soldiers guarding the bridge, and equipment such as horse repelling was set up.

  Zhao Han carried his sister on his back, and finally climbed to the edge of the canal bridge. The guards kicked him over: "Go away, where is the beggar!"

   Almost fainted from hunger, Zhao Han couldn't get angry, he just supported the little girl who fell down, and smiled flatteringly: "Mr. Jun, please let us go and ask for a meal."

  The soldier laughed inexplicably, put his hands behind his hands, and spread his legs apart: "If you want to cross the bridge, you can go under my crotch."

  Zhao Han was silent, his eyes were red, his fists were clenched tightly, and then loosened again.

  Suddenly an officer came over, pushed away the soldiers who deliberately made things difficult, and said cursingly: "Well, Wei Si, bullying children is considered a good man?"

  Wei Si laughed and said, "Old Liu, I'll just play a joke on them."

  Old Liu glanced at Zhao Han brothers and sisters, and said: "Let people go, whether they live or die depends on their own fate."

  Zhao Han stood up with all his strength, relying on the residual memory of this time and space, bowed his hands and said: "Dare to ask your benefactor's name, if my brother and sister can survive, they will definitely repay it with a knot in the future."

  Old Liu saw that Zhao Han had all the etiquette, and he also solemnly returned the gift: "It turns out that I am a young gentleman who has been in trouble. My name is Liu Mang, a small management team of the Tianjin New Army."

"Remember your benefactor's name, we will meet again someday." Zhao Han squatted down with great difficulty, and lay down on the ground again, letting the weak and weak little girl lay on his back to grab it, and slowly crawled forward like a dog .

  Guan Liu thought for a while, took out a few copper coins, and handed them to Zhao Han: "Take them to buy some food."

   "Thank you benefactor." Zhao Han was overjoyed.

  He bowed his hands again, and spoke politely again, just wanting to attract the other party's attention, and now luckily it has some effect.

The two brothers and sisters slowly crawled away, and Wei Si said: "Old Liu, what are you doing with the money? These two little ones are so hungry that they can't walk anymore. They even have to crawl across to the city. If they are full today, they will be hungry tomorrow." die."

  Guan Liu watched the brothers and sisters cross the bridge, sighed and said: "My family's two children are also so big, just for peace of mind. This world... Sigh!"

  Although the city of Tianjin is built along the river, there is still a distance between the city wall and the canal. Outside the four city walls, there are a large number of illegal dwellings, and a street market has been formed.

  Especially outside the North City, where there is the North Canal Wharf, where there are many shops, it is extremely prosperous, and the North Moat has even become an inland river in the dock area.

  Zhao Han carried his sister on his back to the streets outside the city, smelling the smell of food all the way.

  When he came to a noodle booth, Zhao Han recovered from his breath for a while, tried to stand up but his legs were weak and fell, and finally he could only kneel down on the ground, held out the few copper coins and said, "Eat."

  Due to the decline of Spain, there was a silver crisis in the late Ming Dynasty.

  Silver deflation, copper money inflation, copper money is becoming less and less valuable.

  In addition to the fact that there was a famine, the price of food was very high, and with these few pennies, we could only buy miscellaneous grains and steamed buns.

  The stall owner took the copper coins and stuffed Zhao Han with a steamed bun. He waved his hand in disgust and said, "Go away and eat, don't delay my business."

   "Thanks...thank you."

  Zhao Han reluctantly responded with a smile, and with a steamed bun in his mouth, he turned around and crawled towards the street corner with his little **** his back.

Before reaching the corner of the street, a few beggars suddenly rushed out, snatched the steamed buns and said viciously: "Begging for food in Tianjin, have you visited the pier? , I will allow you to beg on Dock North Street."

  Begging on his knees, being kicked by his hands and feet, and forced to drill his crotch, Zhao Han endured it just to survive.

  Finally got something to eat, but was bullied by a few beggars, Zhao Han finally exploded completely. He put down his sister, got up staggeringly, and roared, "Give it back to me!"

   "My little mother, who can't even stand upright, dares to play rough with grandpa?" The beggar leader stretched out his foot and easily tripped Zhao Han.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

  The other beggars laughed loudly. They are the bottom of the society. They suffer discrimination and bullying all day long, and they can only find fun on the weaker.

  Zhao Han was dizzy from hunger long ago, and at this moment, people are seeing double images. He couldn't stand up anymore, so he crawled forward with all his strength, grabbed the beggar leader's ankle and said, "Give me back the steamed bun!"

   "Get out!"

   The beggar leader was caught with one foot, so he raised the other foot and stepped on Zhao Han's head like an ant.

   "Don't hit my second brother!"

  Suddenly, Zhao Zhenfang, who was almost unconscious from hunger, rushed forward and bit the beggar leader's leg.

   "Ouch!"

  The leader of the beggar suffered from pain and stretched out his legs to kick Zhao Zhenfang away.

   Taking advantage of the opportunity of the opponent standing on one foot, Zhao Han suddenly exerted his last strength, grabbed the beggar leader's ankle and dragged it vigorously.

"what!"

  The head beggar fell on his back, and landed on the back of his head, and suddenly fell dizzy.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

  The other beggars were still watching the joke, and didn't feel that the two children could pose any threat to their leader.

   There are also some passers-by people who stop here, watching the beggars fight with great interest, and from time to time some people point and have fun.

   "Hoo hoo hoo..."

  Zhao Han was panting heavily, and before the other party could react, he had already climbed onto the head of the beggar and bit down on the other party's dirt-covered neck.

   "Let go, let go!"

  The leader of the beggar struggled in panic, so frightened that he forgot to ask his companions for help, he just shouted to push Zhao Han away.

  Finally, the other beggars stopped watching and kicked, beat and dragged Zhao Han. Zhao Zhenfang rushed to help but was kicked away.

  Zhao Han held the beggar leader in his arms, biting the beggar leader relentlessly, biting the opponent's trachea and arteries. The blood flowing into his mouth is not disgusting, but because of the hunger and thirst in his stomach, he subconsciously swallows blood crazily.

  Finally, the beggar leader stopped moving.

  Zhao Han's mouth was full of flesh and blood, and he turned his head and smiled grimly at everyone.

   "Killer!"

   Passers-by exclaimed and shouted.

  The other beggars were stunned for a moment, not wanting to avenge the boss, so they grabbed the dog-beating stick and the broken bowl and ran away.

  Zhao Han picked up the steamed bun on the ground, tore it in half, stuffed half into his mouth, and handed the half to the younger sister, saying, "Eat!"

  Zhao Zhenfang didn't care so much, she grabbed the steamed bun and devoured it hungrily.

  Zhao Han ate half of the miscellaneous grain steamed bun before wiping off the blood on his mouth with his sleeve. The whole process was like eating the flesh and blood of a raw person.

  People were killed in the street, but no one reported it to the authorities.

   It’s just a beggar’s death. When will Tianjin not starve to death?

  Zhao Han regained a little strength, and began to **** for the body of the beggar leader under the watchful eyes of everyone, but unfortunately he found nothing.

  He picked up the opponent's dog-beating stick, leaned on the stick to stand up with difficulty, helped the younger sister and said, "Let's go, Second Brother will take you to find a place to spend the night."

  Zhao Zhenfang grabbed a small piece of steamed bun, but was still reluctant to eat it, and followed Zhao Han silently.

   After only walking a few steps, the brother and sister were dizzy, so they got down and crawled forward again.

  The onlookers avoided one after another, making way to watch them leave.

   This is not a bad start, at least I got a dog-beating stick.

  (end of this chapter)