Faithful to Buddha, Faithful to You - Chapter 73: : Mourning everywhere
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At the beginning of February in the lunar calendar and in the middle of March in the solar calendar, the city gate closed for more than a month was opened for the first time. The residents of Gu Zang gathered together on both sides of the street, and were forced to greet the army of Lu Guang who came back from the rebellion. After nearly three months of snow, the snow finally melted away in the early spring, and the streets were covered with garbage for a long time. Lv Shao hurried to clean up yesterday, but it was still difficult to hide the wolf after the famine.
When Lu Guang’s army entered the city, the drums and drums rang together, and in the lively atmosphere was a blank face. The flag fluttered, surrounded by Lu Guang walking slowly, Lu Zhuan Lu Hong and nephew Lu Long Lu Chao sideways raised their chests. After the generals on horseback, there was a team of soldiers. The dark face was full of tiredness, the padded jacket was worn out, and the cotton wool that was dirty and uncolored was turned out. . Lv Guang brought 50,000 people when he went on the expedition, and more than 30,000 people when Lv Hong helped him. Now, when I come back, I can roughly estimate according to the queue, about 30,000 people. I groaned in my heart, more than half less.
After the queue of soldiers, a large formation of cattle teams. Carrying on the car, the shape is food! The hungry Gu Zang residents finally rioted after seeing this cart of food. The crowd burst into cheers, jammed towards the heart of the street, but was stopped by the soldiers who maintained order on the street. A thin hand stretched out, scratching hopelessly in the air.
With so much food, Lu Guang will definitely not bring the rest of the war. Where can we find food in this famine? I looked at the toes of the Lu family at the street and sneered.
In the more than 130 years of the Sixteen Kingdoms, when we opened the history books, we often saw just a few lines:
“Years old, hungry.”
“Guanzhong’s famine and epidemic.”
“Drought, epidemic, 10,000 yuan of money.”
“Jing, Yu, Xu, Yang, Hebei, and five counties.”
We have always said that China’s land is rich, but the reality is that the land is big, but the things are not. Due to geographical differences between east, west, south, and north, natural disasters occur in local areas every year. When the country is unified, resources can be deployed everywhere. What to do in areas where there is a split or when the royal family is too corrupt and there is a famine but no relief is provided? Can only grab others. So natural disasters are often combined with human disasters. During the period of division or dynasty on the verge of extinction, a large number of records of natural disasters appeared in the history books. In fact, the state is unable to allocate resources, and famine and war are inseparable.
Therefore, Lu Guang went out to fight for rebellion and grab food. Throughout the historical period of Liangzhou, in addition to the early death of the Zhangs, the four Liangliangs stood side by side in the historical period. With the addition of the West Qin in Gannan, Qinghai, the weak power of the Five Kingdoms still fought. From an economic point of view, if the country’s land area is so small, it is unable to resume production. Rather than let the people rise up in the country, it is better to use foreign wars to divert contradictions. If you win, you can plunder others. But those with great national power, such as Yao’s post-Qin, cannot beat it. So, just pick the same. After dozens of years of waiting, until the emergence of the man who can truly complete the reunification, these small countries will disappear one by one under the trend of reunification.
And who are those monarchs who really care about the people when disaster strikes? The founder of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Tuoba Gui, was considered to be a talented hero. During the battle with Houyan, the plague spread. He inquired about the epidemic, and his subordinates answered, “Only four or five of ten people live.” And his response was: “This is a destiny and can’t be imagined. Fortunately, there are people everywhere. I’m not afraid that no people can fill the army.” The soldiers have died for more than half. What happened to the people, there is no record in the history book, only more.
Wang Can said in “Seven Sorrow Poems”: “Go out and see nothing, white bones cover the plains. There are hungry women on the road, holding the child in the grass room, Gu Wenhao weeps, and sighs and does not return;’Unknown death place, How can the two phases end!’” These tragedies are being staged throughout the Central Plains in this era. Looking at the Lu’s triumphants who were immediately proud, it was difficult to calm down. Why is such a group of people in power? Why is the cheapest in this era the human life?
Lu Guang announced loudly in front of the Drum Tower where the crowd was most concentrated: He who rebelled against victory was Tianyou Liangzhou. All urban residents can receive food with their household registration. The migrants can all get the wheat seeds, and they will go back to their farmland immediately after registration. The land abandoned during the fleeing can be recovered. It is already Spring, Lu Guang does not want to have any food for the next autumn harvest.
This was good news, but there was no long lived mountain call that Lu Guang had expected, and Lu Guang was somewhat distraught. Lu Shao hastily argued that the refugees are outside the city, and he will go to proclaim the good deeds of the Liang King.
The city gate was finally opened to ordinary people. We, a family of more than two hundred people, rushed across the suspension bridge with the residents who were out of the city to collect firewood, and walked towards the mountain forest where the victims outside the city were most concentrated.
The mountain in the south of the city is not high, but it occupies a large area. Facing the gate, there are many caves left by the poor. This is the place where the residents of Guzang City come most often to collect firewood, and it is also the most concentrated place in the cemetery. When the famine started, we came here every day, so we were very familiar with the terrain. When I came here again, the initial surprise was that there were no trees left in the original Manshan, and even the turf and grass roots were completely lifted up, leaving only the bare mountain bales.
Climbing a few steps, you reached the first cave area. Along the road, you can see mounds of micro-uplifts, so small mounds of high and low height, at a glance, are irregularly distributed on the entire hillside.
Dozens of caves opened Leng Sen’s mouth in black, and I remembered the sentence in “The Book of Jin”. Following in the footsteps behind Rosh, he froze, pulling on his sleeves, and said bitterly, “Rosh, don’t get closer.”
“What’s wrong? Why is his face so ugly?” He supported me, greeted Duan Pinting, and handed me over to her. “You stay here, and Roche will come back in a moment.”
Pingting helped me sit down on the stone beside him, he continued to walk forward, and the two hundred people we sheltered climbed up anxiously. Many of them were forced to break up with their loved ones and had not met for more than a month. I looked at the backs of the women, children, children, and children crawling on the mountain, and suddenly turned my head in fear.
“Sister Qing, what’s wrong?” she exclaimed, and pulled out her veil and pressed it on my lips. “Why do you have a nosebleed?”
I froze, took the veil down, saw Yin Hong, and my hands and feet were cold. Am I the most worried, or has it arrived?
“Sister Qing…”
She shuddered, covered her mouth and nose with her hands, and looked up at her: “I’m fine. Don’t tell anyone, especially the mage…”
Glancing at Xiao Murongchao and Hu Yanjing were also on the side, quickly calmed down and stabilized his voice: “Pingting, take Chaoer and Jinger back. Don’t let them see…”
“What do you see?”
I glared at her, clenching my fists, and a very uncomfortable stomach acid poured into my chest. Take a quick breath and press down the nausea that rushed to her throat, and spit out word by word to her elegant beauty: “People… phase… food…”
She was about to shout, she quickly covered her mouth with a veil, looked around, and screamed. Looking down her eyes, she was stepping on a raised earth bag, and the loose earth was kicked off by her inadvertently, revealing a bone, vaguely a leg bone.
She turned pale and pulled me: “Sister Qing, I… let’s go together.”
I shook my head: “The mage is still here. I have to wait for him to go.”
She smiled at her with peace of mind: “You take the children first, we will come back soon.”
She looked at me in embarrassment, nodded, called the two children, told me a few words, and went back. I took a deep breath and told myself not to be afraid. I stood up and walked in the direction of Roche.
Before he reached the first cave, he heard a terrifying scream from inside, and then someone ran out of the cave. Identify carefully, that woman is our sister-in-law Liu, and a thin man with a skeleton behind him pulls her weakly.
“How can you put Xiaosan…” Aunt Liu grabbed the man’s shirt and thumped on the man with all her strength, screaming like a beast, “You are a beast, you take the child…you actually…change with someone…”
“I can’t help it!” The man let Aunt Liu beat, his thin body could hardly stand.
He stared numbly at a piece of raw meat in his hand, the corners of his mouth ripped, and his front teeth were missing, revealing a darkened gum: “It’s not hungry, who can afford, who can eat…”
Nasal nausea flashed from her throat, and she pressed it down. He dared not look at the things in his hand and hurried forward. The probe went to a pass by a cave to find Rosh. There were only a few people sitting around, basking in the sunlight from the door. In the past when we came to relief, each cave was filled with twenty or thirty people. Now, only four or five people are left, except those who have been conscripted for war, and who are frozen and starved to death.
When the group of people saw me, their heads were raised and the corners of their mouths were red. An old man who was closest to me, looked at me expressionlessly, and continued to bow down and nibble at his hand. When I saw what he was nibbling, I couldn’t hold it anymore. He turned the river and spit out the yellow bile. It was a hand, he actually held a hand!
“Daughter girl, are you hungry?” The old man was still sitting on the ground, stretching that hand towards me, and the palm of his hand was swaying in my vision with a dying gray hand.
“Everything that can be burned in all directions is burned out. Don’t dislike it, you can live alive if you eat it…”
I turned and ran away, escaped from the cave, and looked up at the indifferent sun. Why isn’t this sunshine warm? Close your eyes, clenched your fists, and shouted loudly at the cold sun. Why should I see these with my own eyes? Tears blurred his eyes and his shoulders were held as he wobbled. Weakly turned his head and saw Rosh, who was also in tears.
“Ai Qing, you go back first.” He sucked his nose, shaking his body, his mouth trembling, “Don’t look at it again…”
I stared at his compassionate face and felt a little warmth. Finally I got back to God and grabbed his arm, crying and begging: “I’m not good, I should have thought about this situation. You walk with me, don’t see these anymore…”
“Ai Qing, you already knew the result, didn’t you?”
I sobbed and murmured the record that had tortured me for more than three months: “‘The price of Shigu is high, the value of the battle is five hundred, people eat each other, and the dead are half.’”
Swallowing hard, clenching fists. Nail pinched into the flesh, only to let the pain bring a bit of sobriety, then have the courage to continue: “Rosh, this disaster has been extremely painful for us, and survived all the hardships. But in the vast sea of smoke In the history book, there are only 16 short words! Why did the famine, when it started and when it ended, where was the worst hit, how did the disaster happen, how many people died, it was not mentioned. Because of such a disaster, it is in the Central Plains. It’s no surprise that you can see it everywhere!”
Take a quick breath, your body is like a pendulum. The cold blew all around, and the voice trembled: “But I dare not tell you, I don’t want you to know this cruel ending early.’People eat each other, the dead are too much’, this is not the only time. It will happen again, even worse. I am a futuristic person. I can’t change anything except to know the ending of a star. But I did my best, I really did my best…”
“Ai Qing…” He hugged me hard, buried his head in my neck, and tears slipped down my neck. “You suffer more than Roche… Don’t hold your heart like this in the future, don’t be alone People endure the pain of knowing everything. We are husband and wife, you tell me. No matter what kind of difficulties and dangers, we will bear together.”
Tears dripped onto his shoulders and melted into the old robes. Just about to talk, I suddenly saw a hand thin like a dead branch stretched out and grabbed Roche’s clothes. Rosh was shocked and hurried me behind. A man who is dying and has only bone left, can no longer see the age, climbed to our feet, struggling to raise his head, and said in a weak voice: “Mage, I’m dying… can I give my chanting overdose? You give me more Read the scriptures, and accumulate more virtue. So that I will go to the next place to eat enough, there are white noodles and buns to eat every day, how good…”
The hand holding Roche’s clothes corner fell down weakly, and Rosh turned over him quickly, his hand under his nose, and he was out of breath. Roche turned his head and frowned, unable to bear. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, cross-legged and murmured the scripture beside him. He closed his eyes halfway and prayed religiously for this unknown person. The Sanskrit scriptures sang along the cold wind of the early spring in the bleak sunlight, and passed into the cave on the entire hillside.
People walked out of the bottom cave, holding each other and approaching Roche. Some people in the caves above the hillside came out one after another and slowly gathered here. Rosh’s thin body appeared as a backlight of the Buddha under the sun. He murmured the scriptures, so sacred at the moment, radiating an irresistible holy light all over his body. It seems that there is a strong centripetal force, which attracts the people who have survived for the rest of their lives.
“Master! Read the Duan Jing for me too, I’m so guilty!” A man wailed loudly, suddenly kneeling down, prostrately prostrating toward Rosh, and came to us, kowtowing, “I ate a man , I ate three, in exchange for my own children, daughter-in-law, and mother. Will the Buddha forgive me? I am going to go to hell?”
Hearing what he said, the others who came to Roche also knelt down, crying, a wave higher than a wave, continuous like a shocking wave.
“Master, I also changed the child to eat. I **** it, I will definitely go to hell, just ask you to read the scriptures for my child who is suffering…”
“Mage, and me. Read the Scriptures for my mother. She has suffered too much, and she will be eaten by others when she dies. I hope she will not have such a ruthless son in my next life…”
“Master, which of us survived? Which one hasn’t eaten anyone? Which didn’t wear the clothes of the dead? Which one is not a family fleeing, and now there is only one person left? There are more people buried in this mountain than there are survived… ”
Roche stood upright and walked towards the group of kneeling people, trying to pull them up, but no one was willing to stand up.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Rosh had hoped not to let a person starve to death, but was unable to protect all beings. It was Roche incompetent!” He burst into tears, arched his slender body, and thumped his chest in pain. I wiped tears with my sleeve and hurried forward to hold him.
“Mage, don’t blame yourself, you have done your best!” Hu Yanping also arrived at this open space, he shouted loudly, tears in his eyes. Behind him are two hundred people sheltered by us. He took the lead to kneel on the ground, and the people in the back also knelt down together and knocked his head solemnly at us.
With tears on Hu Yanping’s face, his hands propped up on the floor, he looked up at Rosh: “Without you, we two hundred people can’t escape eating or being eaten. You saved us, Master, you. It is our reborn parent. This grace and virtue will never be forgotten!”
Roche went to Rahu Yanping, but in vain. He went to pull the person behind Huyanping to get up again, and could not pull it. Both I and he cried inexhaustibly, and the sound merged into the crying ocean, shaking the whole bare mountain.
A group of people came up the hill. Leading are Lu Shao and Lu Hong. Behind them stood Monson, as well as Du Jin and Duan Ye. A group of people stood in the cries of the sky, everyone looked at the tens of thousands of survivors on this hillside, and the center of the refugees-Roche…
――――――――――The author has something to say ――――――――――――――
“The Biography of Jin Shu Lv Guang” “The price of Shi Gu is high, the value of fighting is 500, people eat each other, and half of the dead.” This famine occurred in the first winter of Lu Guangjin.