Chapter 2: Natural Disaster, Man-made Calamity?

The sixth year of Longwu, Wei residence.

There was suddenly a commotion in the residence, with a small figure darting through the halls and around the pillars, running extremely fast. Behind him, the steward was chasing closely, calling out continuously: "Slow down, slow down! Young Master, little ancestor! If you fall, won't that be the end of my old life?"

The boy was Wei Yuan. Although he had just turned three this year, he was exceptionally tall. Children of farmers in the mountain countryside were generally thin and small, so he already looked taller than many seven or eight-year-old children in the town.

At this time, the fragrance of food drifted from the main hall. Little Wei Yuan, as if hooked by a fishing line in mid-air, immediately changed direction.

In the main room, the great philanthropist Wei and his two wives were sitting at the table, and the meal had already been set. On the table were two pottery basins, one containing a few steamed buns and brown coarse-grain buns, and the other containing yellow coarse-grain porridge. There were four dishes on the table: pickled beans, salted radishes, stir-fried shredded radishes, and a small dish of pickled wild pheasant.

This was the lunch for the great philanthropist Wei's family in the county.

Little Wei Yuan had long been starving. He broke open a bun that was almost bigger than his own head, stuffed the chicken meat into it, and then buried his head and ate, finishing it clean in the blink of an eye. One bun was not enough, so he ate two more pancakes and a bowl of porridge, which was finally enough. After eating, he jumped off the stool, bowed to the great philanthropist Wei and the two wives, and slipped out the door.

The great philanthropist Wei and the two wives basically didn't move their chopsticks until little Wei Yuan had eaten his fill and left the room. The third wife said: "Yuan'er is truly growing fast; his appetite is now like an adult's, and he is polite, but he just doesn't like to talk. If the fourth sister were still here..."

The second wife hurriedly pulled her sleeve, and the third wife immediately realized and stopped speaking.

Outside the room, little Wei Yuan's footsteps paused, and then he ran toward the front courtyard as if he hadn't heard anything. The old maids, maidservants, and servants he met along the way all avoided him and bowed, but further away, the servants' quiet discussions reached Wei Yuan's ears one by one.

"The young master is growing really fast; his appetite is bigger than an adult's, it's just a pity he lost his mother."

"Keep your voice down! The master said not to let the young master know about this."

"What's the big deal? Who doesn't know that the fourth mistress ran away with someone not long after giving birth to the young master? The master only said the mistress died and even put up a grave in a pretentious manner. But who can this be hidden from?"

Little Wei Yuan didn't stop, left the back courtyard, and came to the front courtyard. The front courtyard was quite chaotic, with long-term laborers, kitchen workers, and retainers moving back and forth.

He walked into an open space in the front courtyard, where some stone locks and spears were placed; this was where the retainers practiced. Just as he walked into the open space, he heard whispers again.

"The young master has a good appearance, it's just that he doesn't look much like the master."

"You say, could he be a wild seed born by the fourth mistress and an outsider..."

"Keep your voice down!"

"What are you afraid of? There's no one around, who would hear?"

Wei Yuan wanted to block those voices out of his mind, but he could hear them clearly no matter what. The two retainers whispering were ten zhang away; they were far away, and they spoke softly, so it was indeed impossible for others to hear them under normal circumstances, but Wei Yuan heard them clearly. In fact, no matter where he stood, Wei Yuan could hear the movements in most of the residence.

In Wei Yuan's memory, at a certain moment when he was very young, he suddenly heard these voices, and then after hearing them more often, it didn't take long for him to understand the meaning of most of the words.

The countryside was vulgar, and the servants' private discussions about their masters were naturally not pleasant to hear.

Ever since he could understand, Wei Yuan became increasingly silent. Although he could understand why others spoke, he didn't understand why they had to speak that way.

Wei Yuan came to the stone lock as usual and picked up the ten-jin lock he usually played with. But after lifting it a few times, he felt an itch in his body. This itch, which crawled out from the gaps in his bones, could only be relieved by running or carrying weight, but the light stone lock in his hand was no longer enough to relieve it.

Little Wei Yuan walked to the large stone lock not far away. This stone lock weighed a full fifty jin and was the heaviest stone lock used by the retainers for practice. Little Wei Yuan scooped it up with both hands and lifted it with force; the stone lock was already slightly off the ground.

At this moment, Wei Youcai's voice suddenly rang out from afar: "Put it down, put it down quickly!"

Little Wei Yuan turned his head and saw the great philanthropist Wei running over in small steps, saying repeatedly: "How dare you move such a large stone lock? What if you hurt your tendons and bones? I know you like to play with this, so I had someone specially make a good one for you."

Saying this, Wei Youcai took out a small stone lock made of white jade, exquisite and delicate, weighing a full pound.

Little Wei Yuan helplessly took the jade lock.

Although this thing had almost no weight in his hand, little Wei Yuan could feel his father's concern. So, although he was reluctant, he left the stone lock and pretended to play with the small jade lock.

Wei Youcai wiped the sweat for Wei Yuan again; after such a toss, he himself was covered in sweat. He squinted his eyes and looked at the sky; the sky was cloudless, and the scorching sun was hanging in the sky, casting light and heat like flowing fire onto the earth.

Wei Youcai let little Wei Yuan go play by himself and called the steward to his side, asking: "Is today the beginning of summer?"

"Master, yesterday was the beginning of summer."

The great philanthropist Wei frowned: "It's already the beginning of summer? How is the situation in the fields?"

The steward had a bitter face and said: "The crops are just at the time of forming ears, but there has only been one rain in the past two months; they simply can't survive! Now the fields near the mountains have all failed, and those near the Tong River are a little better. It's just that taking water from the river is also a life-threatening job; two people have already been worked to death in the village below!"

"Prepare the donkey, let's go to the village and take a look."

A moment later, the great philanthropist Wei took the steward and a retainer toward the valley entrance. It was only eight miles from the Wei residence to the valley entrance, and outside the valley entrance was Xiahe Village, which was near the Tong River and had the best fields in the entire county. If it didn't rain again, Xiahe Village would probably be the only village in the entire Ye County with a harvest.

Leaving the residence gate, what entered his eyes was a bright yellow.

The fields were yellow, the road was yellow, the trees were yellow, the mountains were yellow, and even the wind was yellow.

Looking around, only the ancient tree behind the Wei family's courtyard was still lush and green, becoming the only group of green in this world. In fact, if it weren't for the retainers guarding it day and night, this large tree would have long been bald: in one night, people could peel off the bark.

Suddenly a wind came, rolling up yellow dusty sand, covering Wei Youcai's face.

Wei Youcai spat several times before spitting out the dirt in his mouth. He wiped his face, jumped off the donkey, walked to the fields on both sides of the road, and dug hard in the fields, digging up only dry soil; the seedlings on the ridges were already withered.

Wei Youcai supported his knees and stood up with difficulty, and the steward hurriedly came over to support him.

Wei Youcai gasped for a few breaths and asked: "How is the situation in the tenants' homes?"

"Master, the year before last it was just a bit hot, and last year there wasn't much rain. The fields had a poor harvest, and the imperial court didn't reduce taxes, so every household not only ate up their stored grain but also owed us some grain more or less. This year, looking at this situation, it will likely be a total failure, but our family doesn't have much stored grain left either; I'm afraid people will die..."

Wei Youcai's face was gloomy: "If we don't provide disaster relief, it will be too late. Is there any news from the county?"

The steward said: "A few days ago, I specifically went to the county to find Master Zhao in the government office. The master said there is no news of disaster relief from above, and this year there will be a few more taxes. The names seem to be something like the foot soldier tax, the barbarian conquest tax, and the cattle tax."

"What, cattle tax?" The great philanthropist Wei picked his ears.

"Cattle tax." The second steward nodded. He had confirmed it with the master several times at the time.

Wei Youcai was surprised: "Has our county ever had cattle?"

The second steward said: "At least for the past few decades, I haven't heard of any cattle."

In fact, it wasn't just Ye County; Feng Yuanjun Prefecture had never had cattle since ancient times. This place was adjacent to the southern mountains, and the land Qi was unique, making it difficult for plow cattle to survive; farm work was all done by a kind of mule that looked like a donkey but was slightly smaller. Not to mention Feng Yuanjun Prefecture, in the entire Ji Kingdom, there were only two or three out of ten places with cattle, unlike the northern countries where plow cattle were everywhere.

"There are no cattle, so what cattle tax are they collecting?"

The second steward looked at the great philanthropist Wei's expression and whispered: "The master said that even if there are no cattle, it doesn't hinder the imperial court from collecting cattle tax."

Wei Youcai asked with a dark face: "What exactly is going on?"

"Master Zhao said that the imperial court recently employed a great scholar from the north, whose essays are very famous. After that person came, he began to reform the law and proposed a method of 'averaging taxes into heads,' which is to collect taxes by head count. For every fifty households, it is counted as if the group has one cow, so they have to pay cattle tax. It is said that fishermen and boatmen also have to pay cattle tax."

Wei Youcai laughed out of anger: "What kind of monsters and ghosts have crawled out! Can write essays? Can writing essays produce such wicked things?"

The steward also said indignantly: "Maybe it's because he can write essays that he can be so wicked!"

Wei Youcai scolded a few times and then fell silent, saying after a while: "Let's go back."

"Not going to Xiahe Village?"

"Not going. The weather is going to change before long; you make a trip into the mountains and call Lao Liu back."

The steward was shocked and asked: "Want to call Sixth Master back?"

"In a year of great disaster, there will definitely be refugees. Without Lao Liu, we will have to flee from famine."

The steward's face changed, and he didn't dare to ask more, leading the donkey and returning to the residence against the flowing fire of the sun.

Master Zhao's news was indeed well-informed; within two days, the imperial court's decree to increase taxes arrived in the county. Ye County was located in a remote area, so the decree arrived the latest; in other places, the imperial decree had arrived half a month earlier. For a time, there was public resentment everywhere, and naturally, many people who saw they couldn't survive began to ponder other ways to live.

In this land of Yongzhou, there had never been good people willing to starve to death honestly since ancient times.

On this morning, little Wei Yuan finished breakfast and ran toward the open space where the retainers practiced. Just as he ran to the edge of the open space, a pair of large hands descended from the sky, picking him up as if he were riding the clouds and mist.

This was a bald, burly man with a face full of flesh and a long scar on his right cheek. The burly man held Wei Yuan, staring at him fiercely, his face ferocious.

Little Wei Yuan looked left and right and found that his position was much higher than when he was held by others, seeing everyone's heads, and was overjoyed.

The bald burly man pulled Wei Yuan's small face to face him and asked strangely: "Are you not afraid of me?"

Little Wei Yuan asked suspiciously: "Why should I be afraid of you?"

Although it was their first meeting, Wei Yuan could feel that in this manor, the bald burly man was the third person besides Wei Youcai and the steward who was full of love for him. So no matter how this bald man bared his fangs and brandished his claws, little Wei Yuan only felt it was fun.

The bald burly man laughed loudly and said: "Good boy! Let's go, let's find your father!"

The burly man held Wei Yuan and walked to the corner tower. Wei Youcai had changed into short clothes at this time, holding a hunting bow in his hand and testing the string. It was just that the master was obviously not physically fit, and after pulling it a few times, he was panting and had to put it down.

The bald burly man walked up to Wei Youcai and said: "Big brother, I'm back!"

Wei Youcai looked up at the burly man who was a full head taller than himself, and then at Wei Yuan, who was sitting quietly in the burly man's arms, and finally had a smile on his tired face, saying: "Sixth Brother, it's good that you're back!"

The bald Lao Liu said: "On my way here, I already saw many refugees, all coming from the northeast. The main force has already arrived thirty miles away, I'm afraid there are thousands of people, and there are people leading them."

"What is their situation now?"

The bald burly man said in a deep voice: "I took advantage of the night to sneak in; those leaders were boiling meat soup. The meat smells wrong, I'm afraid it's human meat."

Wei Youcai said calmly: "When people are starving, they will eat anything; it's not strange."

He pondered for a moment and said: "Thirty miles away, that means they will arrive here the day after tomorrow. Thousands of people can come to such a remote place as ours; it seems that the few counties in the northeast are already empty."

The burly man said: "Big brother, this time I brought three capable brothers, ten sets of leather armor, and three fine strong bows. The refugees don't walk fast; as long as we avoid the main force, it won't be difficult to charge out a path. Big brother, flee or defend?"

Refugees crossing the border, not a blade of grass grows; this sentence is not just talk. The hoes in the refugees' hands can hoe the land, and they can also hoe people. There are only a few dozen people in the Wei residence, but they have to face thousands of refugees. Once the residence is broken, it will be a total extermination.

But unless it's a last resort, no one wants to leave their hometown and become a refugee.

Wei Youcai narrowed his thin eyes into a slit and said after a long time: "Defend!"

The bald Lao Liu's spirit was lifted, and he grinned ferociously: "Alright!"

In the remaining two days, everyone in the manor worked with all their might, adding half a zhang to the courtyard walls and building supports in weak areas.

In these two days, no matter where Wei Youcai went, he would hold little Wei Yuan. Little Wei Yuan watched the burly man take out leather armor and strong bows from the leather bucket, watched one retainer after another pick up weapons and put on leather armor. Then on the morning of the third day, little Wei Yuan and everyone else had a full meal.

Not long after the sky brightened, one could already see rolling dust raised at the end of the road, and there was no knowing how many people were inside. Seeing this scene, several retainers on the courtyard wall had their legs trembling.

Wei Youcai had long since changed into a strong suit, and at this time, holding Wei Yuan, he climbed the corner tower unhurriedly, ordered people to place a grand master's chair on top, and sat down holding Wei Yuan. The steward and the bald burly man were already standing on the corner tower, and they were stunned to see Wei Youcai holding Wei Yuan up. The bald burly man asked: "Big brother, it's not suitable to bring a child up here, right? What if..."

Wei Youcai waved his hand and said: "It doesn't matter! Yuan'er is early in wisdom and understands everything now; let him see blood early."

The steward said: "Master, it's not suitable for you to be here either!"

Wei Youcai said 'heh', and said: "You don't need to worry about me. If the residence is broken by refugees, I'll be dead no matter where I hide. So today I'll sit here and see how they break my home and eat my flesh!"

While speaking, the main force of refugees had approached. The refugees were all in rags, with sallow complexions, but their faces were full of ferocity. Some were holding hoes, some were holding pitchforks, and many had large dark stains on their bodies, which one could tell at a glance were dried blood.

There were also some women in the team, all of them barely covered. There were also some young women tied into a string with ropes, with almost no cloth on their bodies.

Seeing the large Wei residence ahead, green light suddenly lit up in the refugees' eyes. Among the people at the very front, there were a few in local attire, pointing at the large residence.

The steward had sharp eyes and recognized the appearance of those few people, immediately jumping and scolding: "Isn't that Hu San? You dog-raising bastard, if it weren't for us giving him life-saving grain last year, could he have lived until today?"

The steward's scolding was useless; the refugees over there saw the large residence from afar and could no longer hold back, ignoring the distance, and swarmed to charge.

The refugees' shouts were chaotic, and from afar, one could only hear the sound of killing. But Wei Yuan heard every sentence clearly, and even if dozens of people shouted at the same time, Wei Yuan could distinguish them one by one and hear every sentence clearly.

"There is food and women inside! Brothers, kill!"

"We are starving to death, but they are having a good time inside!"

"Kill all the wealthy families!!"

Seeing the refugees swarming like wild beasts, Wei Yuan suddenly turned his head and asked: "Why do they want to kill us?"

Wei Youcai said gently: "Watch first, you'll know if you keep watching."

It didn't take long for the refugees to rush outside the wall and start howling as they climbed up. The Wei residence courtyard wall was only a zhang high, and those who were stronger could reach the top of the wall with a leap. Those who were not strong were supported and lifted by the people around them, and they also barely managed to climb up. The Wei family's retainers and servants stood on the wall; at first, some were afraid, but at the critical moment of life and death, they all became ruthless, screaming while holding knives and slashing fiercely at the hands and heads reaching out on the wall. For a time, blood splashed, and fingers and palms flew everywhere.

There were too many refugees; the refugees behind couldn't squeeze to the front, so they picked up stones from the ground and smashed them at the wall, and in the blink of an eye, several retainers were smashed until their heads were bleeding, and some fell from the wall. However, those who fell gritted their teeth and climbed back onto the wall, not even bothering to wipe the blood on their heads. Everyone knew that once the wall was broken, the result would be worse than being hacked to pieces.

The Wei residence corner tower was three zhang high, and the people brought back by the three bald Lao Lius were shooting arrows down one by one. These three people obviously practiced archery and shot fast and ruthlessly. The steward also stood on the corner tower, with flags of various colors placed at his feet, occasionally waving the flags, while coordinating the retainers and observing targets, occasionally calling out: "That tall guy in black over there is likely the leader, shoot him!"

Under the steward's guidance, the three archers shot down seven or eight ferocious refugees in the blink of an eye. However, at this time, everyone's eyes were red with killing, and they were still desperately charging at the residence, stepping on the corpses and broken limbs of their companions to climb up.

Under the steward's coordination, the Wei residence's dozens of retainers and strong women supported each other, actually barely holding off the refugees' charge and guarding the wall. The bald burly man patrolled back and forth, blocking wherever it was dangerous, and several times hacked down the refugees who rushed onto the wall.

Wei Yuan sat in Wei Youcai's arms, quietly watching arrows pierce through people's bodies and then insert into the ground with rain of blood; watching the retainers beside him trembling all over, screaming while holding stones and smashing them down; and also watching a refugee with an arrow in his stomach rolling on the ground in agony, desperately grabbing the trouser leg of a companion, but that person found him an eyesore, turned his hand and slashed a sickle into his head, and then continued to charge at the large residence without even looking.

The hot, bloody smell mixed with dust surged up in waves. A retainer on the courtyard wall couldn't help it, hugging the wall and vomiting wildly, but in the blink of an eye, he was hit by a stone on the head, and in a trance, he was pulled by the refugees and thrown out of the wall, then torn and bitten, and in the blink of an eye, he was flesh and blood, with screams continuing one after another.

On the corner tower, Wei Youcai sat steadily, as if what was in front of him was not a tragic slaughter, but just a few children playing around messily. Little Wei Yuan leaned against him, just like leaning against an immovable mountain.

The two sides fought for the time it takes to eat a meal in the blink of an eye, and the retainers were all panting, everyone injured, and the defense line gradually had loopholes. A group of refugees finally surged onto the wall and climbed onto the corner tower. A chaotic battle immediately broke out on the corner tower!

A sturdy refugee kicked the steward away and rushed toward Wei Youcai with a ferocious grin. Wei Youcai was not panicked at all, stood up and drew his sword. It was just that he was pampered and spoiled, his movements were slow, and before he could raise his sword, he was kicked down in the chest. That person raised his firewood knife and was about to slash at Wei Youcai's head!

Seeing the firewood knife about to fall, little Wei Yuan's mind suddenly went blank, and he grabbed a short spear on the ground and stabbed it into the refugee's abdomen!

That person originally saw that Wei Yuan was a child and didn't care at all, not expecting this spear to be particularly heavy. He was both surprised and angry, kicked little Wei Yuan away, and then pulled the short spear out with force. A stream of blood immediately sprayed from his wound, drenching little Wei Yuan.

All the strength in that person's body flowed away like water, and his feet went soft, and he sat on the ground.

Little Wei Yuan suddenly rushed up and grabbed the short spear and pulled it back. The strong refugee only felt a force that didn't belong to a child at all coming from his hand, and the short spear was snatched away.

Little Wei Yuan stepped forward and stabbed the spear into the refugee's chest again.

The refugee felt pain, held the spear shaft with one hand and wrestled with little Wei Yuan, while the other hand groped and grabbed the firewood knife, about to slash at Wei Yuan's head. Little Wei Yuan didn't even look at the firewood knife above his head, just gathered all his strength and pushed the short spear into the refugee's heart bit by bit.

The refugee suddenly saw Wei Yuan's eyes, the pupils were unfathomably deep, as if hiding another world. The small face was full of calmness, as if he wasn't killing someone, but just doing a trivial thing. Looking at Wei Yuan's face, the refugee inexplicably felt a chill in his heart. At this time, his last breath leaked out, and the short spear sank deep into his heart with a 'pop'.

At this time, the steward led the others and finally hacked down all the refugees on the corner tower, and then threw the corpses out of the corner tower one by one. The main force of refugees was suddenly in chaos, and their momentum was frustrated.

Seeing the refugees' morale frustrated, the steward immediately picked up a red flag and threw it hard toward the center of the refugees.

The bald burly man who was fighting on the wall had his eyes light up, and he grinned ferociously: "Finally the time has come! Brothers, follow me and kill!"

He jumped down from the wall, hitting and flying several refugees as he landed, and killed straight toward the direction where the red flag fell. Five retainers in leather armor appeared in the residence; they actually hadn't participated in the wall defense before and had been resting and building up their energy. They also jumped down from the wall and followed behind the bald burly man to kill toward the center of the refugees.

The bald burly man let out a roar, and a rich blood-colored light erupted around his body, like a blood-colored torch! He slashed forward with his knife, and three refugees were immediately slashed into two pieces, and then he circled his knife again, and seven or eight surrounding refugees were immediately cut at the waist!

After the blood-colored light appeared on his body, every move and style of the bald burly man had great power, and he led this elite team as if entering no-man's-land, killing hundreds of refugees in the blink of an eye and rushing to the center of the formation.

The refugees' morale finally collapsed, and it was truly a defeat like a mountain falling; in the blink of an eye, all the refugees scattered in a swarm.

The steward finally breathed a sigh of relief, immediately slumped on the ground, and muttered: "Fortunately, they were all a mob."

As soon as this breath was released, the steward felt severe pain in his body; it turned out that he had been slashed on his back at some point.

In a short slaughter, there were hundreds of refugee corpses outside the Wei residence, and many people had broken hands and feet, and they hadn't died for a while, so they could only lie on the ground and scream continuously. Many of the retainers on the courtyard wall were originally ordinary farmers and had never seen such a scene; some were vomiting while holding the wall, and some were crying and laughing.

Wei Youcai climbed up and took little Wei Yuan into his arms, checking if he was injured. Only after seeing that there were no wounds on little Wei Yuan and that the blood was the enemy's did he breathe a sigh of relief, his face already pale with fright.

Wei Youcai patted his own chest and then wiped the blood off little Wei Yuan's face with his sleeve.

Little Wei Yuan raised his small face and asked again: "Why do they want to kill us?"

Wei Youcai held him and stood up, walked to the corner tower, pointed to the northeast, and said: "They were all people like us, but now they are too hungry, so they want to eat our grain. But the grain is not enough, so they have to eat us to survive. If we are so hungry that we can't survive and have to go to other places to find food, we will also become like them."

Wei Youcai pointed to the southwest again and said: "Over there, outside these big mountains, there are many people who don't look like us; let's call them people for now. Whether they are hungry or not, they want to eat us."

"These are the ones who want to eat us directly." Wei Youcai waved his hand toward the north again and said: "In places very far in these directions, there are many big cities, and those who live in the center of the big cities actually eat people too, just not directly, and they are more civilized. But when it comes to eating people, they eat the most."

Little Wei Yuan listened, half-understanding.

Wei Youcai smiled, pointed to the sky again, and said: "If we stood there, maybe what we see would be different. But standing where we are now..."

"... this is a world that eats people."

Little Wei Yuan frowned, trying hard to think, and frowned: "Why eat people? People don't taste good."

Wei Youcai stretched out his hand and said: "Because there is only so much land, and it can't support these people. Eating is good, killing is good, starving to death is good, there must be a batch of people who die. When enough people die, it can calm down."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3 =====