Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 1 Liji
In the early autumn of 1783, the Mutsu Hirosaki domain in the northeastern island country.

This is the third year of Tianming.

Since the spring of last year, the Kanto region has been rainy and rainy; in early summer, the temperature is still cold, and most people are still wearing winter cotton-padded clothes.

Everything seemed to herald an ominous time to come.

Li Ji and Shino were wearily walking on the road in the forest. Since the freezing disaster last year, they have not eaten serious food. They usually eat wild vegetables, tree roots mixed with barnyard tares.

And half a year ago, the Iwaki volcano, which belonged to the Hirosaki domain, began to erupt.

The lava from the volcanic eruption and the ensuing mudslides destroyed the forests and villages, and the birds and animals in the mountains fled.And the volcanic ash that filled the sky also buried the farmland, and the crops all withered; the land full of lava and mudslides could no longer be cultivated.

The villagers waited for dozens of days, and the people who reported the letter to the vassal also sent several times, but after the officials in the vassal sent two men to check it, there was no more.

Waiting for relief, in the village where Li Ji is located, the villagers began to flee the famine.

But if they are gone, what will happen to the fields?Therefore, even though survival is difficult day after day, the food in each family is gradually exhausted, and some people still wait in the village.Gradually, some villagers who were starved to death became food for the left-behind villagers.What's more, everyone exchanges wives with each other, anyway, it's not because they don't feel bad, let's do it.
Li Ji didn't want to eat human flesh, and he didn't want his wife Shino to be eaten, so they could only escape.

He thought that he might be able to go to the distant relatives who defected to the capital to help, although they have not been in contact for two generations.

So before dawn, Li Ji and his wife Shino cleaned up the tattered belongings at home and quietly left the village.

At noon, with one hand holding the large burden on his back, and the other holding his hungry and trembling wife Shino on the road in the mountains, Li Ji felt the world was spinning, her heart was on her back, and she was dizzy.

But, go anyway!
I don't know how long it took, but just as Liji dragged his wife and stumbled, he suddenly smelled a burst of aroma from the woods in front of him.

So fragrant!Although I had never smelled this smell, Liji instinctively thought that it must be eaten!

Riki and his wife Shino recklessly walked in the direction where the fragrance came from.But their weak bodies could no longer withstand the sudden movements. Both of them fell to the ground with their soles mixed with garlic, but they rolled over, and they even found it difficult to get up. They had to crawl over.

Climbing through a low bush, the husband and wife smelled the fragrance and came close.

At this moment, a not-so-ugly face suddenly appeared in front of them, holding a bowl of food with an inexplicable aroma with a smile, and said to Liji in a strange accent, "Want to eat it?"

"..."

Li Ji and his wife saw this man with short hair squatting in front of him in a daze.

"Monk?" This was the last thought of the couple before they passed out.

"I'm going! I fainted!" the man said helplessly.He was holding food in one hand, while the other hand was behind his back, and the short knife in his hand was brightened by the sunlight behind him.

In a daze, Li Ji felt that someone was feeding something into his mouth, he swallowed instinctively, and gradually he felt that his empty stomach was no longer so uncomfortable.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Ji woke up from the coma.As soon as he opened his eyes, he was shaken by the light of the bonfire next to him and closed his eyes again. The light of the fire was very warm on his body.Then, he remembered his wife Shino, so he called out his wife's name.

"Ligi, I'm here."

Shino's voice came from the side.Li Ji opened his eyes and saw his wife trotting towards him.

"Shino, Shino. What happened?" Rikichi struggled to figure out what happened.

"Thanks to this lord." Shino said while helping her husband up.Only then did Li Ji realize that it was already dusk.

"Both of them are awake. Hey, they startled me." The weird accent in Liji's memory before he passed out rang out again.I saw a very tall young man walking out from behind a big tree, with short hair, wearing a strange dress, and carrying a strange black object in his hand.

The young man walked up to the two of Li Ji, squatted down, and said, "Your name is Li Ji, she is your wife? How is it? Can you understand what I said? Yours, do you understand the work?"

I understand the first sentence, but what does the latter sentence mean?
Looking at the tall and strong figure of the young man, the husband and wife both shrank their necks, lowered their heads, and nodded.

"Ha. It's good to understand." The young man grinned and said to Li Ji with gestures: "After you passed out, I gave you something to eat."

Hearing this, Li Ji quickly took his wife and knelt down to salute.He said to the young man with a crying voice: "We escaped from Yanmu Mountain. The village was hit by a catastrophe, the mountain fire broke out, and the crops were all destroyed, all destroyed!"

Thinking that the several acres of farmland he rented had been destroyed, Li Ji couldn't help but feel extremely sad, what should he do in the future? !
The young man helped his husband and wife to sit up and said to Li Ji, "Speak slowly, speak slowly."

"Yes, my lord." Liji wiped away his tears with his tattered sleeves and continued: "Since last spring, the weather has not been getting warmer, with heavy rains and cold winds, and until early summer, the weather is still very cold. In the month, the rice that was planted was still green, not ripe at all.

When the New Year turns around, I think that God will send kindness and give the poor a way to survive.The result was still cold, with constant rain and rain.Before the rice in the field was planted, a mountain fire broke out in Yanmu Mountain, and the fields were destroyed by lava and mudslides.

The elders in the village said that the feudal lord will distribute relief, and we have been waiting.But a few months later, the food at home was exhausted, and there was no relief from the domain.Let alone wild vegetables around the village.Even the mice have been dug up and caught, and they still eat people, I thought, instead of starving to death in the village, it is better to escape, maybe there is a way to survive. "

"Then, you met me." The young man looked at the two young couple who were no taller than 1.6 meters in front of him and said, "You said that you are not big, but you can really carry it. You can carry such a big package. Do you take them all with you? The whole donkey."

Li Ji and his wife felt that the adult was saying something strange again, because he couldn't understand the last sentence.

The young man thought about it and asked, "How long have you been without food?"

Before Li Ji could think clearly, Shino on the side said: "The village ran out of food more than three months ago. Except for those who went out to find food, the elders told the young and old not to run around, but to stay at home and lie down. So hungry."

The young man muttered to himself after hearing it, and the couple was at a loss.However, Liji found that the young man was holding the strange black thing in his right hand when he was questioning the couple.

Li Ji and his wife kept kneeling on the ground honestly until their knees became numb, and the young man remembered that the two had been kneeling all the time, and immediately said, "Get up."

Gu~~gu~~" Li Ji felt that his stomach was growling, he stood up and glanced at his wife, and found that her face was flushed.

After the couple passed out together, they were first fed some porridge by the young man.After Shino woke up, she was worried about Li Ji, so she didn't eat.

The young man smiled and said, "Are you hungry? Wait a minute."

After that, he turned around and walked behind a big tree not far to the left.After a while, he turned around and waved to them.

Rikichi and Shino looked at each other, took courage, and walked over.He thought that since this young man could save the two of them, he shouldn't harm them for the sake of property.

When the two followed the young man around the tree, Rikichi and Shino couldn't help but froze.

Under the big tree, there was a blue cushion, which glowed brightly in the setting sun, and looked like a tarpaulin.On top of the tarpaulin, two or three large cardboard boxes were stacked.

The young man greeted the two of them as they approached and opened a box with one hand.

"This is porridge." As he said, he took out two palm-length jars from the box and handed them to Liji.

Then he grabbed three or four bags from another cardboard box.Li Ji could see clearly that the bag was actually transparent, and he could see the contents of the bag very clearly.But what is that thing?The golden-yellow appearance looked soft, which he had never seen before.

The young man threw the rest of the bags on the blue mat under his feet, holding only one in his hand.Holding the bag in one hand, he tore the transparent bag open with his teeth, and suddenly a scent of milk mixed with the aroma of wheat came out.Li Ji and his wife swallowed their saliva unsatisfactorily. After the young man handed the contents of the bag to himself, he watched in a daze for a while.

The young man made an eating gesture: "Eat it."

Li Ji took a small bite, and a strong taste of milk mixed with wheat filled his mouth.He was relieved and took another big bite.

"It's actually red bean paste... This is wagashi?!"

When Rikichi went to the clan castle with his father as a child, he ate in the castle town once.But this wagashi in my hand is actually more delicious than the one I have ever eaten!

Li Ji had never eaten such delicious food. While he was eating, he thought about how lucky he was to escape from the village. The hardships he and Shino had on the way, the utensils handed down by his father were replaced with food, and the tears began to stop. fall.

"Oh. I forgot. You still don't know how to open this." The young man patted his head, took the porridge jar in Liji's hand, opened it for him, and handed it back to him; Open.

Shino took a look at the porridge jar and lid, and said in surprise, "Hey, there's a small spoon here."

Hearing the sound, he saw that a folding spoon of transparent color and unknown material was fixed on the inside of the lid.

The young man explained: "This can be taken down, it is for porridge."

Rikichi and Shino ate two red bean breads each, and after drinking two cans of porridge, the young man stopped them from eating them.He explained that people who have been hungry for many days cannot eat too much in one meal, as they will eat badly in their stomachs.

The young people also eat the same as their husband and wife, but Liji found that the young people always look very bad when they eat.He didn't understand, how could such delicious food be unpalatable?

After eating the food, Li Ji crouched under the tree to think for a while, and then whispered to his wife.The two immediately got up, walked to the young man, and knelt down.

"Thank you very much for your stay and reward! I, I..." Li Ji stumbled for a long time, and finally bowed his head and bowed: "I hope that the adults can take in my husband and wife, and I am willing to serve the adults as slaves."

The young man was taken aback: "What? You want to be my servant?"

"The land can't be cultivated anymore. I heard you say that the famine will last for a long time. We are really desperate, please have mercy on us, my lord!" After speaking, Li Ji and Shino kowtowed to the young man.

The young man rolled his eyes, and after a while, he said, "Okay. Follow me for the time being, later. Forget it, take a step and see."

Li Ji and his wife were very happy when they heard it.He hurriedly kowtowed heavily: "I haven't asked your esteemed surname yet?"

The young man touched his short hair and said, "My surname is Zhao, Zhao Xin."

The protagonist of our story is this young man Zhao Xin.

(End of this chapter)