In the dream, the sky was gloomy, and the rain was accompanied by thunder.
In the thunderstorm, the girl was desperately running. What was louder than the thunder was the rolling hooves of the horses. The girl fell to the ground and was covered in mud in the rain. She got up and continued running. In the hazy light and shadow, the armored cavalry and the line of soldiers came from the depths of the darkness like a crescent moon.
So, he suddenly sat up in the hut. He should not have been able to see the scene in front of the hut, but at this time, he was looking down. The muddy girl was still running in this direction, and the line of soldiers behind her was advancing. He heard the sound of hooves and fumbled for his sword and spear. The window facing the back of the hut was open. Through the window, he saw his terrified wife in the distance. She tried to run over, but was immediately knocked unconscious by the guards next to her.
He sat in front of the window and waved his hand.
Then, it was a sea of fragmented memories. The weeping girl standing in front of the small house with her arms open, the charging cavalry that was like a mountain in front of him, the door that he pushed open, the light and sound that lit up in the storm, the light rays that shot out with a "bang", the swords, spears, fists, the huge blades that came from the side, the veiled girl who swung the blades, the body of the warhorse that was slashed in the air along with the blood that sprayed out, the intense quarrel …
When he opened his eyes, it was still dark outside.
He lay there, struggling out of the clamor of the dream, quietly enjoying this moment of peace. On the other side of the screen, lying on the narrow bed, Xiaochan turned over. Outside the hut, there was the sound of insects before dawn, and the pulse of the city was also trivial. This is … Hangzhou.
For the first time in a few days, he dreamed of what happened a few days ago.
In the chaos on the night of the 13th of July, he and his many guards were separated by the army that attacked the camp. After that, they ran and ran, and his consciousness was also muddled. After a few days, he regained consciousness slightly. It could be said that his life was saved. However, the infection of the wound was extremely harmful to the body. What followed was still an extremely weak physical condition. In fact, if he hadn't trained his body well, he probably wouldn't have survived this injury.
During this period of time, the few soldiers who were with him had already dispersed. The only ones who were still with him after they left the team were his wife, Su Tan'er, his maidservant, Xiaochan, Juan'er, and Guardian Geng, who had always been loyal to protect his young mistress. Xing'er was not able to follow them that night. She must have returned to Fuzhou with the rest of the troops. It was a blessing in disguise.
After that, it was the things that happened in his dream again. When they failed to return to Huzhou and hid in the nearby area, they were finally discovered. Xiaochan and he could not hide in time and could only face the enemy head-on. At that time, his wife and Juan'er were behind the house. When they discovered the enemy, Guardian Geng knocked Su Tan'er unconscious and quickly escaped with Juan'er.
Now that he thought about it, if Fang La's army hadn't given up and continued to move forward, Protector Geng and the others wouldn't have had a chance to escape. However, when those people saw him, they stopped and quarreled. Some wanted to kill him, while some wanted to protect him. After a period of chaos, the two sides almost started to fight. Then, the girl named Liu Guihua also appeared. She waved her huge sword and stopped everyone coldly. At that time, he was also weak, so he only shot once. But after seeing what happened, he was finally caught together with Xiaochan. When he woke up, he was in Hangzhou.
*****
After the gray weather, there was a heavy rain, which plunged the whole morning of Hangzhou into a green haze. The pedestrians, soldiers, and peddlers who came and went near the city gate put on bamboo hats and straw raincoats. The city, which had become slightly lively after the war, returned to a somewhat peaceful atmosphere.
A few ships docked at the dock of Qiantang River near the south of the city. The boatmen went up and down to unload the goods. The farmers, accompanied by the soldiers, went out of the city and began to prepare for the harvest of rice this year. In the places that were more seriously affected by the disaster, houses and wooden sheds were being built. In the slightly lively street market, female soldiers and workers were setting up shelves and various decorations for the parade of the enthronement ceremony.
In the current Hangzhou, the new order established by the soldiers who rebelled and many soldiers as the privileged class was the foundation of the rule. Naturally, the way of life was very different from before. A few lively places were extremely lively, while most of the other places were in a state of chaos and depression. Of course, there was the so-called quiet, but in the hearts of the people, in fact, they were not at ease yet. No one could really feel at ease.
In a small courtyard on the side of the city, there came the messy sound of reading. In the heavy rain, it was indistinct.
This was an academy. The inside and outside of the academy were lush with trees. Next to it was a medical center. Next to it was a dilapidated courtyard occupied by some soldiers. The medical center was very lively, and from time to time, the curses of the soldiers could be heard.
Fang La's rebellion was, after all, a peasant uprising in nature. At the beginning of the uprising, their most straightforward action was to kill all the privileged classes, including officials, landlords, rich merchants, and scholars who looked down on them. But on the other hand, they also hoped to become a privileged class, such as officials, landlords, and rich merchants. These were not easy to say, but the brightest of them was naturally to become scholars.
Everywhere they attacked, they met scholars who were not on their side who were not happy with them. Naturally, they would scold these people for being so weak and kill them conveniently. But for those with foresight and ideas, when they had the right conditions, they still hoped that their families could produce scholars and have a bright future. This was the value system brought about by the Confucian school for thousands of years. People always believed that only those who were educated could truly do great things.
Because of this, even after the chaos of war, there were always some people with power who protected some of the Confucian scholars, either as advisors or as teachers for their disciples, giving them protection. For example, the one in front of them was the only academy in Hangzhou these days. It was said that there were several military generals behind it. After the city was breached, the food supply was extremely tight. Some Confucian scholars who had no power or influence, unlike the "evil deeds" of the four big families, but had some knowledge, luckily survived after the city was breached and were arranged to be teachers here.
At this time, there were not many disciples in the academy. The students' families had some background, but not very high. If they reached the status of Shi Bao and Wang Yin and wanted to find a teacher for their disciples, they would naturally directly capture some great Confucian scholars.
Although there were not many students, there were quite a lot of teachers. Some of them had been in Fang La's army before. They had adapted to the situation and were arranged to be here after entering the city. Most of them were arrogant. They had some connections with the military generals before and could get more benefits, so they would not be persecuted. The other part was naturally the Confucian scholars in Hangzhou. These people could be regarded as "losers". No matter how knowledgeable they were, they could only lower their heads and wait for the situation to pass. The salary they could get was not much, just enough to make ends meet. Of course, it was already a good job in Hangzhou at this time. Occasionally, they were provoked, but considering their wives and children and the people they needed to take care of, they could only put up with a straight face and put up with a bit of scholarly character.
"Ahem … Let's go to class. My surname is Ning. I'll teach you the Records of the Grand Historian …"
The rain under the eaves weaved into a curtain, covering the outside world. In the morning, when the students were still patting their wet clothes and whispering among the desks and chairs, the young man sat down on the podium and knocked on the table with his pointer. He opened his mouth in a slightly morbid manner. His words were short and plain.
The people below were talking and laughing noisily, while the young teacher above was talking about his course. The young teacher was weak and even seemed to be sick. Most of the students below were not in awe of him. Several strong kids even interrupted the teacher during the quarrel and asked directly, "Hey, what do you think is the most fun place in Hangzhou?" The teacher smiled and told them a few places to have a look. This was what happened on the first day of Mr. Ning's arrival in the academy.
This was a corner of the chaotic Hangzhou. It was a simple morning as usual. After more than half of the morning, the students scattered like birds and beasts in joy. The young man returned to the room where the teachers were and greeted some of them. At this time, the teachers here were a mix of good people and bad people. Most of the people who had been in Fang La's army had their own things to do. Those who had originally belonged to Hangzhou were mostly worried. They taught quietly and did not ask too many questions or talk too much.
One of them recognized him and said, "Ning Liheng …" He cupped his hands in obeisance but did not say anything. It was probably a tacit understanding that the situation was difficult and everyone was having a hard time. They were not in the mood to chat about trifles.
The rain was still falling. After half a day of classes, the academy became a bit quieter. Bypassing the leaky eaves, Ning Yi took a small half bag of coarse rice and a handful of green vegetables from the administrator of the academy at this time as his pay for today. When the group of scholars dispersed in the misty rain, Ning Yi went to the back of the academy.
A large part of the courtyard wall at the back of the academy had collapsed. It was connected to the clinic next door and a simple small courtyard behind it. There were only two or three single rooms in the small courtyard. Xiaochan was leaning timidly at the door of one of the rooms, waiting for him to come back. When she saw him, she opened a broken umbrella and ran into the rain …
*****
As for Ning Yi, he was not sure what the current situation would be like.
When he was brought back to Hangzhou, his body was weak to a certain extent. Then, he was arranged to stay in the clinic in front. However, after that, other than the two guards who had knives on their backs watching him from nearby, making him look like a prisoner, no one else came to deal with him. It was as if the person who protected him just waited for him to return to Hangzhou and then … forgot about him.
Xiaochan had always been by his side to take care of him. Ever since the little servant girl was captured and brought to Hangzhou with him, she had never left his side. She dressed herself up very ugly. It was only when Ning Yi really woke up that she became a little more at ease. According to her, Su Tan'er, Juan'er, and the others should not have been captured. However, at that time, Huzhou was in chaos. Under the protection of Guardian Geng, it was difficult to determine whether these people could return to Huzhou. Su Tan'er was also a stubborn person. What happened to them after this became the thing that Ning Yi was most concerned about these days. However, although he was concerned about them, they were here and could not run away. He could only adapt to the situation. At least, he had Xiaochan by his side to take care of.
These days, as he gradually recovered from his injuries, he and Xiaochan were arranged to stay in the small courtyard at the back of the clinic. The master and servant were not explicitly restricted in their movements. However, at this time, if someone without a background went out and wandered around, what they would see would probably not be a pleasant scene. Recently, Hangzhou was short of supplies. As prisoners, the two of them only had two meals of provisions every day. They took food and cooked it themselves.
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