I

Old man Li is 76 years old, and everyone in the village calls him Mr. Li.

His family was a military household in Daming, responsible for guarding Xiaoling for generations. However, except for the access to the mountain, grass grows everywhere near Xiaoling Mausoleum, and the officers of the Xiaoling Guards have not seen orders to maintain it.

His eldest brother died when he was young, and his second brother became a soldier when he became an adult.

As a soldier, he took no weapons, only axes and ropes, and stole trees from Xiaolingwei for the officers. Once, when a log was lowered down a mountain, I accidentally rolled down with the log, and my spine was broken. I was in pain for several days before I died.

So, old man Li also became a soldier, to make up for his second brother's errand, and to do hard labor for those hereditary military officers.

If there is no disease or disaster, you can barely survive.

The officers occasionally give out some rations, and they and their wives do odd jobs, which can also slightly subsidize the family. However, floods and droughts occurred frequently, and his wife, who was in poor health, died of malnutrition first, and then his only son also died.

The old parents have been dead for many years, and he is the only one left in the family.

At that time, old man Li couldn't see the slightest hope in life, and lived in a daze all day long. When an officer has an errand, he will do it, if he has no errand, he will do odd jobs, and if he has nothing to do, he will be a beggar.

If he is lucky and can pick up wild eggs in the imperial mausoleum, it will already be his happiest moment.

Suddenly, the Datong army came, and old man Li was transferred to guard Nanjing, and he was given a rusty spear.

Old man Li was terrified at the time. He heard that the Datong army would massacre the city and liked to eat raw human flesh. He stood at the top of the city tremblingly, completely unable to understand military orders, and only knew how to follow others around.

Then, there were riots everywhere in the city, and the people surrounded the nobles, and some soldiers rebelled out of nowhere.

Old man Li didn't think much about it, so he rebelled and went to help open the city gate.

He just thought that the Datong Army was very powerful, so he might as well join the rebels, or follow the rebels to eat human flesh.

These military households who rebelled against Xiancheng were organized into a security force, responsible for arresting the gangsters who took advantage of the fire.

Zhang San, who was acquainted with the old man Li, was usually submissive, but suddenly he showed off his might. Zhang San didn't go to arrest the bad guys, but used the banner of the Datong Army to blackmail the wealthy households in the city. At that time, dozens of military households followed suit.

Behead all!

Old man Li saw Zhang San's head fall to the ground with his own eyes, and was so frightened that he wet his pants on the spot.

Later, more Datong troops entered the city, and the military households were taken outside the city. The mission officer escorted the hereditary military officer to come, saying that he was going to hold a complaint meeting, and at the beginning, "The White-haired Girl" was played, which made the officers and the military households who farmed the land cry loudly.

Old man Li didn't cry when he watched "The White-haired Girl", but he cried at the complaint meeting.

He chatted endlessly about what happened to his family, how each family member died, and when he mentioned his second brother, he cried, and he couldn't go on talking.

Later, the land of the hereditary military officer was allotted to military households for farming. Old man Li never dreamed that he would have his own land in this life.

Old man Li works very hard on farming, although he has never planted, his family has been cutting down trees for the officers.

When he met someone who could farm, he nodded and bowed down, begging others to teach him farming skills. Regardless of busy or slack seasons, I have to wander around the fields every day, wishing I could eat and sleep on the ridges of the fields.

One day, the village chief convened a discussion and asked all single men and women to go.

Old man Li was serving the crops at that time, so he was a little reluctant to go. Unexpectedly, he was assigned a wife, a female beggar who fled to Nanjing.

In fact, he is not considered a beggar. He went south with his family to join his relatives.

Her family all died of illness and starvation, so she could only wipe her dirty face and beg along the street. When the Datong Army cleaned up the beggars, she was half starved to death, and she was taken to the outskirts of the countryside to marry with other prostitutes who were willing to be good, as well as homeless women.

Old man Li has land property, a wife, and children, and he has a family again.

Five sons and three daughters, three died young.

There are as many as eleven grandchildren, not counting the grandchildren. The family's land property was not enough, the eldest son followed him to farm, the second son died, the third son went to the city to work as a laborer, the fourth son died, and the fifth son graduated from elementary school and became an apprentice.

Today, the third son bought a house in a slum in the northwestern part of the city, even though he was sick from carrying his bags.

The original owner got rich, moved out of the slums, and sold it very cheaply.

Last year, I heard that there was going to be demolished. If the news is true, the third son and his family can still live in the building.

The fifth son is even more terrible. He graduated from primary school and is educated, and he is willing to learn and study. He is already a master in a printing and dyeing factory, with a salary of eight taels of silver a month. Even his boss was very polite to him, first handing him cigarettes and calling him "Li Bashi" respectfully.

The land inside and outside the city is becoming more and more tense, and the newly built buildings are all buildings.

Old man Li has been to his youngest son's new house, which is even more grand than the one he got after demolition. It's just that the daughter-in-law has a bad temper and often makes him angry. Old man Li was so angry that he returned to the countryside after only two months.

In this regard, the old man Li kept silent, telling everyone he met that his son and daughter-in-law were filial, and that he moved back because he was not used to living there.

The villagers envy him for his good fortune. All his sons are filial, and all his daughters are married to good families.

In the early morning light, old man Li went out with a hoe on his shoulder.

The wife, who was over seventy years old, shouted: "It's early in the morning, where are you going to work?"

Old man Li turned his head and said, "The rice is almost ripe, I'll go to the fields."

The wife said unhappily: "Fuck you, at least ten days before you can thresh the grain. Your legs are not good, don't fall again. It's not cheap to hire a bone-setting doctor."

"I can't fall. I can walk through the ridge of our house with my eyes closed." Old man Li grinned, revealing a few sparse teeth.

The wife immediately yelled into the eldest son's room: "Your father is going out again, hurry up and don't let him fall."

The eldest son was named Li Datong. When he was choosing his name, someone reminded him of the taboo, saying that Datong was the imperial title. But old man Li insisted on taking this name, saying that in Datong, everyone has land to farm, everyone has clothes to wear, and everyone has food to eat.

Li Datong was sleepy, and was in a bad mood when he was woken up, so he chased after him muttering all the way.

"Father, what are you doing with your hoe this early in the morning?" Li Datong asked.

Old man Li said: "Last night in the middle of the night, I heard the wind. The rice is about to ripen, but it must not be blown down. I don't feel at ease if I don't go around."

Li Datong was speechless: "Last night, the wind was so light that it couldn't blow the rice down."

Old man Li said angrily: "You know what, you can rely on guessing about crops? If I am careless in farming, you brothers and sisters will all starve to death!"

Li Datong stopped talking, yawned and walked forward.

The father and son walked around the rice field for twenty minutes, and found a piece of fallen rice.

"Did you see it?" Old man Li was triumphant.

Li Datong was convinced, he laughed and said: "Father still has an idea."

The father and son went to the field together, and old man Li picked up the fallen rice with a hoe. Li Datong followed behind, using rice leaves to tie up the fallen rice rows.

The work didn't finish until after eight o'clock. Old man Li went back to have breakfast with his hoe on his shoulder.

Walking on the ridge of the field, old man Li looked at the green and yellow rice, and said happily, "This year, God will feed us, and the weather will be good, unlike last year when the drought was so worrying."

"Dang Dang Dang Dang!"

Suddenly, someone ran past beating a gong in the distance.

Old man Li muttered: "It's almost time for the busy farming, and the peasants and soldiers are not practicing at this time."

When the father and son returned to the village entrance, they saw everyone panicked and two old people crying.

"What's wrong?" Li Datong went over and asked.

The man replied: "Long live God is dead!"

The old man Li had never read a book, and he heard that it was related to the emperor, so he hurriedly asked, "What is death?"

"It's just that the person is gone, and he ascended to heaven and became a fairy!" the man explained.

The old man Li staggered and nearly fell as if he had been struck by thunder. He repeated in his mouth: "Long live God is gone, how will you live in the future? How will you live in the future?"

Li Datong said: "Father, the Long Live Lord is gone, and there is a new emperor."

Old man Li broke out without warning, and yelled at his son: "You bastard, you know what a fool, you can have a good life with Long Live God, and if Long Live God is gone, this good life will come to an end! This good life will come to an end... Whoa whoa whoa whoa!"

Old man Li squatted down as he spoke, buried his head between his knees and wept until he couldn't make a sound.

The last time I cried so much was at the complaint meeting.

Li Datong helped his father back home, and found that his mother was also crying, and the two children who did not go to school were watching curiously.

The old lady cried while telling the past.

She said that she also had a few acres of poor land in her hometown, and the floods, droughts and locusts came together, and her family fled to Nanjing to join relatives. She also said that her relatives were unreliable, so she only sent a bowl of porridge. Her whole family worked as beggars in Nanjing and was bullied by local beggars.

The more the old lady talked, the more she cried, and finally her eyes were crying dry, sobbing and choking, she said: "Didn't it be said that the Lord Long Live came down from the stars and could live for 10,000 years? How can you say that if you don't have it, it will be gone? If the Lord Long Live is gone, life will be endless." There is no way to survive, don’t sell this year’s grain, I’m afraid you will starve next year.”

Li Datong looked at the crying parents, he couldn't understand the situation, the old emperor was gone, and the new emperor was replaced, how could it be like the sky is falling?

He called the child to have breakfast, and then carried a hoe to weed the vegetable field.

Passing by a few houses, as long as there are elderly people in the house, they can always faintly hear crying.

Back home from weeding at noon, Li Datong found that lunch had been prepared, but he could not see his parents. He asked his wife, "Where are your parents?"

"Going into town," replied the wife.

"What are you doing in the city?" Li Datong asked.

The wife explained: "I put on new clothes, and brought some money and dry food, saying that I want to wear sackcloth and mourning for the Long Live Lord. More than 20 old people in the village went there. The village chief was afraid of bad things, so he persuaded him No, we have to go together."

"They are so confused, they are afraid that they will be kicked out by the government!"

Li Datong didn't bother to eat lunch, so he dropped his hoe and chased after him.

Along the way, Li Datong met several groups of old people, among whom were some young people.

The shops selling cloth by Xuanwu Lake and Changganli are already sold out of linen. Many old people marched towards the city of Nanjing with linen cloth spun by themselves and worn on their bodies.

The soldiers guarding the city gate didn't know whether to stop them or not. With so many people coming from all over the country, there might be troubles in the city.

But they didn't dare to stop them, they didn't even dare to scold them, because they were all here to make the emperor cry.