Although he said that he was going to the city gate to check on the situation of the refugees outside the city, in reality, he could not find anyone who truly understood the situation here without any reference from the past. It was also impossible for Ning Yi to come to a conclusion just by looking at the number of people. The main reason he came out this time was because he had stayed in Taiping Alley for a few days. He wanted to see the situation in the city with his own eyes.
As an outsider to a certain extent, the chaotic scene in and out of the city could mostly be seen by Ning Yi as a simple disaster movie. In this era, as long as the city's order still existed, no matter how tiring or difficult it was, it would not be hard for those who had a certain level of family background.
But on the other hand, even Ning Yi could not help but feel pity for the many desolate scenes in the rain. It was just like the scene last year when Jiangning was sealed off due to a flood. That time, it was mostly a famine. This time, the situation was even more obvious. Those who were injured in the earthquake, those who lost their homes, beggars, and refugees.
In such a situation, a large portion of the people who were injured could not afford to see a doctor, let alone buy medicine. Shacks were set up in the ruins on both sides of the road that had not been cleared away. The people who lived in them all looked miserable. Some of them braved the rain to dig up the ruins of their own homes. Those who were seriously injured or had broken limbs were homeless. They hugged mats and hid under the low eaves of the shacks. It was unknown whether they were dead or alive. This was already the fifth day after the earthquake. A few days earlier, they might still be able to scream. But now, most of the people had already lost their breath.
There were also children who had lost their parents, or child beggars who had followed their parents. Some were injured, some were not. Some were shivering in the rain, and some were curled up in places that could shelter them from the rain. Some were crying, but they had already cried themselves hoarse. Starving children would secretly dig up the ruins. If they could get something to eat, no matter what it was, they would immediately stuff it into their mouths. But this was not the era where food was abundant like in the future. No one's home had much to eat. More often than not, they were seen and chased out.
Both boys and girls were the same in such a situation. No one was cute, not cute at all. Life and reality couldn't play any romantic or feminine jokes here. Children who were left in the rain were like stray dogs. There were also people from slightly wealthier families who were able to develop some compassion after dealing with their own family's situation. But with the support of this kind of productivity, no amount of kindness was enough. The government or rich families like the Qian family would also give out some porridge to protect some people from dying, but it could not hide the despair of a small number of people who had lost their future.
After all, in such times, like Hangzhou and Jiangning, if only a few dozen people froze to death outside the city in winter, it would be a truly peaceful and prosperous era. Ning Yi could basically understand, but his heart still felt a little heavy when he saw this. This was only the situation that could be seen on the streets of the city. Although Su Tan'er, Xiaochan, and the others also felt compassion, they were used to it. Their mood was not as artistic as Ning Yi's.
After opening the car window for a while, she saw that Ning Yi had a serious expression and was not in high spirits. Xiaochan said softly, "Xiaochan was sold because her family was starving to death …" She just wanted to comfort Ning Yi and did not show any self-pity. Ning Yi smiled. Su Tan'er pulled her to her side and let her rest her forehead on her shoulder. Then, she stroked her hair.
The situation outside the city could not be seen in detail. In fact, the increase of refugees in the past few days had at least surrounded a few of the city gates of Hangzhou. The soldiers from the Martial Virtue Camp had already guarded the city gates. The gates were not closed, but it was quite troublesome to enter and exit. Ning Yi had the ID given by the Qian family, but there was no need for him to go out. With their carriage and attire, they would probably be surrounded the moment they stepped out of the city gates.
Ning Yi got off the carriage near the city gates and went there alone to take a look for a while. Then, a vigilant soldier came over to inquire. Ning Yi took out the Qian family's name tag, and the soldier left. At this time, the environment outside the city gates was terrible and muddy. Some of the soldiers set up sheds outside the city to maintain order, mainly to ensure that the main road was unblocked.
The collapsed part of the city walls was not far from here, and a large number of workers were working there. At this time, the people in the city were busy saving themselves and cleaning up the mess in their families. There were actually not many workers that could be hired. More than half of them should be selected from the refugees outside the city. They were all men with some strength, and they had rice and meals provided. Therefore, they seemed very motivated here.
Just by taking a look, Ning Yi understood.
It's not just Hangzhou. Suzhou has also been affected. There are too many people affected. If we want to travel by land, we'll probably be robbed before long. For the time being, we can only stay here and wait for things to get better.
After returning to the carriage, Ning Yi sighed. Just as he was about to let the carriage return to Peace Alley, he heard voices gradually rising in the rain outside the city. He did not know what had happened. Ning Yi listened attentively for a while. He could vaguely hear someone shouting, "We want to see the Prefectural Magistrate, we want to see the Prefectural Magistrate …" Perhaps the refugees outside had started a commotion.
Despite this happening, the Martial Virtue Camp stationed near the city walls did not panic. Ning Yi stuck his head out of the carriage's curtain to take a look. He saw a general climbing up the city walls to take a look for a while in the misty rain. At the same time, a group of soldiers went over to watch over the construction of the city walls, another group remained stationed at the city gates, and another group was sent out to pacify or suppress the people. A few elderly people passed by near the city gates. Ning Yi heard them say, "Sigh, they're making trouble again."
"They're not having it easy either."
It looked like this was not the first time such a small commotion had happened. After a while, the commotion outside the city also stopped. Ning Yi did not hear any screams. It was probably not a bloody suppression of people being arrested and killed. After watching in boredom for a while, Ning Yi waved his hand and gave the order to go back.
That afternoon, when it was close to evening, the rain gradually stopped. The haze in the rain gradually faded. The air was fresh, and a rainbow appeared on the horizon. The trees planted in Peace Alley also became greener. It seemed to indicate that this disaster was finally taking its first breather. Next, it was time to truly deal with the aftermath and rebuild.
Since he understood that they had to stay here for the time being, Ning Yi had already begun to plan for his family to stay here for another month. For example, the city gates were closed. During this period of time, the supply of various vegetables would probably be cut off. Many people's cellars might have collapsed. These things had to be considered. Of course, the Su family had only swallowed one-third of the Wu Family's assets and money. At this time, they were extremely rich and overbearing. Now that there was an estrangement with the Lou Family, Su Tan 'er could directly abandon the business here. No matter how expensive the rice and vegetables were, they could still afford it. It was not a big problem.
Originally, the Lou Family's hostility was one of the bigger problems. However, the sudden earthquake should distract the other party. After the incident, even if the other party really had bad intentions, Ning Yi and the others could naturally rely on the Qian Family for protection. His gunpowder was also one of the preparations he made in consideration of the Lou Family's problems.
Although he had experienced many things and had enough ability to turn the situation around in an emergency, Ning Yi was still passionate about overt schemes. For example, the operation of large amounts of intelligence and information, or a higher level of power. Just like Yang Weili in "Legend of the Galaxy Hero": If it wasn't for the lack of military strength, who would like to use strange schemes? If he foolishly fought with others here with the little resources he had, he would be a real hothead. If the other party was really unwilling to give up and planned to do something, he would just go to Shangjing and get rid of the Lou Family through Old Qin. He would be able to flatten them with a raise of his hand. There was no need to think carefully.
Therefore, in the afternoon, he arranged the trivial matters of the family with Su Tan 'er. In the evening, smoke could be seen everywhere in Hangzhou. At this time, most of the wood and firewood were wet. Under the sunset and the rainbow, it looked like a bustling large tribe. A dog ran and barked as it chased after the rainbow on the road. It looked lively and lively.
"Actually, dogs are color blind … They can't see the rainbow, but they can feel it …"
For the first time in a few days, the sun shone. The family gathered in the courtyard, waiting for dinner. Ning Yi, Xiaochan, and the others laughed and talked about the dog. A few children also came over and asked all kinds of questions curiously. At this time, Su Tan 'er also sat in the ruins next to them without much of an image. She looked at this scene with a smile on her face with her hands. At this time, she also slightly relaxed the tense heartstrings of the past few days and restrained the aura of a strong woman. She looked like an innocent girl looking at her beloved husband.
Then came a peaceful night. It was even more peaceful than the previous nights when it rained. The seven guards led by Protector Geng took turns to keep watch at night. The city, which had been tired for a few days, seemed to finally get a long overdue sleep. The fights and fights that could be felt in the city in the past few days, whether it was day or night, also subsided. However, in the middle of the night, there was a thief on a nearby street and faint shouts could be heard.
The next day, the sun rose high in the sky.
Everything went on as usual. When the sun came out of the day, everyone seemed to be full of vigor when they worked. It was only at noon that the hot sun evaporated the water vapor. It was as if the plum rain had been pulled back to midsummer. In the afternoon, a group of soldiers suddenly came towards Taiping Alley. From afar, it was a group led by a young general. At this time, Ning Yi happened to be chatting with Xiaochan on the street outside and looking at the work around them. The young general seemed to have asked one or two people at the end of the street, then looked over. When his gaze landed on Ning Yi from afar, he raised his head and held the hilt of his saber, wanting to walk over.
That should be Lou Shuheng's call to cause trouble … With just a glance, Ning Yi could roughly confirm this. He sighed in his heart. In his original expectation, during the first two days after the earthquake, the legal system could no longer be taken care of. If it was him, he would simply gather a group of people, disguise their identities, and directly come over to kill dozens of people from his clan, pretending to be robbers. Even if they didn't die, they would at least be crippled, and there would be no way to pursue the matter after that. However, it seemed that the Lou Clan's damage was a little too great. They couldn't react in time. If they were to come again at this time, the entire Taiping Alley would have temporarily united to deal with the chaos in the city, so they could only use other methods.
Just as the young general was about to come over with more than 20 people, a few warhorses galloped over from the other side of the street. There was a total of five horsemen who stopped in front of this group of people. The leader was a deputy general. The young general's position was slightly lower, so he hurriedly saluted. After both parties exchanged a few words, the young general glared at Ning Yi's direction with hatred and led his team away. Only then did the five horsemen come over. The leading deputy general dismounted from his horse and cupped his hands towards Ning Yi. He was the soldier who had fought with Ning Yi in Little Yingzhou a few days ago. He seemed to be called Yuan Dingqi.
After a brief greeting, the other party didn't act pretentiously and said directly, "The young master of the Lou Clan has already spread to his friends that he will find trouble with Young Master Ning. However, Young Master doesn't need to worry about this. Sir Qian's guests will definitely not be made trouble in Hangzhou. When Commander Du heard about today's matter, he asked me to bring this token to Young Master Ning. In the future, if there are people from the military who come to make trouble, Young Master Ning just need to show them the token. "
As Yuan Dingqi spoke, he passed a token with the word "Du" engraved on it to Ning Yi. Naturally, this wasn't an official token for mobilizing troops. It was only a personal proof that belonged to the current commander of the Wude army. That commander's name was Du Hong, and his courtesy name was Ruofei. It was said that Commander Du knew some poetry and was a scholarly general. He had a master-disciple relationship with Qian Xiwen, and even his courtesy name was given by Qian Xiwen. At this time, military officers weren't valued. It was not easy for that commander to have the title of a scholar. He was quite proud of his identity as a disciple of the Qian family. Although he didn't know Ning Yi this time, he immediately sent someone over to help.
Yuan Dingqi had fought with Ning Yi in Little Yingzhou last time, so he was also a little curious about the fact that this scholar knew martial arts. His superior was a martial artist who learned literature, and it was called being cultured. Many people did that. Here, scholars practiced martial arts, and there weren't many similar things. Naturally, he asked a few more questions verbally. Then, he smiled and said that he would like to ask for advice if there was an opportunity in the future. Then, he brought his people away without any hesitation.
With this token, the possibility of the military system finding trouble with him without any explanation was not high.
This small episode happened that day. Time gradually passed, and the night fell. It was getting darker, and some things happened unexpectedly in the early hours of the morning.
When the commotion broke out, Ning Yi also woke up from his bed. Tan'Er gently hugged him and refused to let go. He let go of his wife's hand, put on his clothes, and went out after a while. The city in the north had already burned bright red. It looked like the big fire in the city on the night of the earthquake. Smoke covered the night sky.
At this time, Protector Geng and the others were also looking in the courtyard. Ning Yi went over to take a look. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know why it's burning …"
"The sound of putting out the fire is really chaotic …"
All kinds of noises vaguely spread from the night sky. After a while, Su Tan'Er, who had put on her clothes, also came out. Chan'Er rubbed her eyes and came out from the room next door. "It just rained. Why is the fire so big?"
"I hope it's just a fire …"
Ning Yi said with a frown.
However, it wasn't just a fire.
When the sky was about to brighten, the noises became louder and louder. Then, someone suddenly sent a message. "They've started fighting. They've started fighting. The people in the north of the city are fighting with the people from the Wu De Camp. I heard that someone died …"
Yesterday, Ning Yi didn't hear much news in the city. After all, the rain had just stopped. Everyone felt like there were a thousand things to do. However, it was also yesterday that the army began to collect the corpses to deal with. After all, the weather was too hot. After that, there were some small conflicts with the people who had set up mourning halls in the north of the city.
Then, at night, a fire broke out. Several mourning halls of various sizes on several streets caught fire at the same time. Dozens of corpses that had been placed in coffins were burned. The fire spread and couldn't be stopped in a moment. Dozens of people were burned to death just like that. The uncontrollable fire made everyone dumbfounded. Then, when someone came out and said that he saw the soldiers from the Wu De Camp setting the place on fire, a few people on the streets instantly clashed with the soldiers who came over.
The people here didn't know the situation on the other side yet. However, it sounded like the situation was getting more and more intense as the sun rose. Then, gongs and bugles started sounding urgently. The city in the west also started to become chaotic. When Ning Yi and the others set up a simple defense at the entrance of Peace Alley and sealed off the street, the Deputy Workshop Manager hurried back, panting. Then, he saw dozens of Jianghu people holding knives and swords charging over from the side of the intersection. They seemed to want to kill their way into Peace Alley.
This happened so suddenly. It looked like some people who originally wanted to fish in troubled waters had found an opportunity. The forces that were organized on this side of Peace Alley were mainly from the Liu Martial Arts Dojo. They didn't fight with the dozens of people. Ning Yi and the others didn't have any way to explain. They just grabbed rocks and threw them back. Two people were smashed until their heads were bleeding. The other party ran off noisily.
"What happened?"
Ning Yi turned to ask. The Deputy Workshop Manager was still in a state of shock. "Something happened, something happened. There's a fight in the north of the city. People died …"
"I knew that people died. How did this happen?"
"A big shot died. The situation can't be cleaned up. A … a deputy went to appease them, but he was accidentally killed. That deputy seemed to be called Yuan, Yuan Dingqi. I heard that his head was chopped off by someone in the crowd … They're in a killing frenzy. It's going to be chaos … Let's quickly guard the intersection. Don't let anyone come in … "
"Chopped … in one strike?"
Ning Yi was stunned for a moment. He recalled that Yuan Dingqi. Although his martial arts skills couldn't be judged, the other party's skills should be higher than his. It was said that he was also very powerful. Would such a person be chopped off in one strike in the chaos just because some commoners were causing trouble?
Ning Yi had a bad feeling in his heart. He couldn't help but smile. Such a person … made him feel a slight chill on his neck.
Then, in the chaos, that feeling started to turn into reality. News of the refugees taking the opportunity to cause trouble came from the west gate. It was a real rebellion, but it didn't succeed. In the morning, they were blocked outside the city gate by the well-prepared Wu De Camp. But a clear message had already been transmitted to him.
On the seventh day after the earthquake, Fang La's men had already finished gathering and were brazenly attacking!
*****
I've always thought that long live the KKK. It's enough to have a fixed number of 3,000 words a day. That way, it'll last longer. But I keep accidentally typing to 5,000. When I look, it's already two in the morning. I originally wanted to say that tomorrow's my birthday has become today's birthday …
Well, today's my birthday. It's really a complicated feeling. To put it in an old-fashioned way, I haven't done anything bad, but I'm suddenly one year older …
So, for the sake of my birthday, how about giving me some monthly votes ^ _ ^
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