Chapter 295, the Poor

One day in late winter, the wind howled.

This is another extremely normal winter in the Principality of Lyonnaise. It is dark and cold outside the house. At night, no one dares to leave the village. The town wall composed of fences is the only line of defense for the serfs. When the darkness falls, Robbers, bandits, blood-sucking creatures, and beastmen will haunt the wild, looking for their prey.

The fire in the house was not extinguished, hot water was burning inside, the floor was swept very clean, and an elderly mother was working hard to mend clothes and do needlework.

From time to time, she looked at the child lying on the yellow linen bed with worried and reproachful eyes. The child knew that he had made a mistake, and he hung his head and said nothing.

This was her youngest son, whose husband had died five years ago in the Chivalry War.

The house is not far from the fence, and the old mother can hear the frightening roar of beasts from time to time. While mending her clothes, she prayed silently: "Ms. Thalia, my Ms. Thalia, please bless Raymond." Come back safe and sound."

Raymond is her eldest son, and now the only adult laborer in the family. During the slack season, he went to labor for the Lord Knight early in the morning. The youngest son is only eight years old, and it will take a few years before he can work in the fields. Since the death of her husband, Spring Last autumn, she and Raymond worked extremely hard from morning to night, never daring to slack off for a moment, and barely survived. Lunch was porridge with flour mixed with vegetables and bran, and black rice was served at night. bread to eat.

And just today, her youngest son got into trouble. The old mother took out a piece of black bread for dinner, cut out one-eighth of it for herself, and planned to leave the rest to the two sons, but the youngest son left I ate all the leftover black bread, and I was still hungry.

The old mother wanted to scold the youngest son, but when she saw the thin and bony appearance of the youngest son-the ribs were directly outlined on the child's body, and the small arms and legs were as thin as reeds. If the old mother wanted to scold him, she would Can't say it.

The youngest son’s belly is unbelievably round. It’s because of the edema caused by years of hunger. If he lacks nutrition for a long time, his stomach will become swollen. When he presses it down with his fingers, it will sag and it will take a long time to recover.

There is not much food in the family, and the daily ration must be halved before the next food harvest will be made. During this period, it is not only the youngest son who is starving? Just a while after eating, she could hear the "gurgling" sound of her stomach.

The old mother forced herself to turn her attention back to her needlework, and as it got darker, she became more and more anxious.

"Hey, I ate too much today. Raymond will definitely scold me when he comes back. If you want to scold me, you can scold me. Thomas is too hungry. Children are ignorant, so you can scold me if you want to scold me." She reached out and caressed the face of her younger son Thomas. She was only in her early forties this year, but her face was already wrinkled and her hair was covered with white hair: "It's okay, Thomas, I don't blame you, I don't blame you..."

"Mother... Mother." The younger son said timidly, with tears in his eyes: "I'm sorry..."

"Oh~ it's all due to the bad harvest! And that damned tax collector!" The old mother shook her head. She wrapped her long yellow hair with a scarf, and carefully checked how much food was still in stock at home.

There are more than a dozen black breads and a bag of semolina. If the daily food is reduced by 20%, it should be able to survive until the winter wheat is harvested.

Some people in the village have already started to eat the bark. The old mother reluctantly cut half a piece of black bread with a knife. You have to prepare your own food for the labor of the knight, and this kind of labor has always been a high-intensity labor. Raymond must eat something, otherwise he wouldn't be able to hold on.

"Boom~" There was a sudden sound from the door, and the old mother subconsciously jumped up, looking at the door nervously.

A gust of cold night wind blows into the house, making people shiver.

The figure of the eldest son Raymond gradually appeared from the night wind. He looked exhausted, carrying tools, and only wearing single clothes in cold weather, with a lot of thatch added to the animal skin cloak outside: "Hey, mom, I I'm back, I'm exhausted."

"Oh, Raymond, you're back." The old mother felt very nervous, like a child who has made a mistake, and she said a little unnaturally: "Well, I have cut the bread, eat it quickly, there is heat in the stove water."

Although his mother's movements were unnatural, Raymond didn't realize that he was so tired. He washed his hands with the water in the wooden barrel in the corner of the room, prayed without sincerity, and sent the cut bread into the Soaked in hot water for a while, ready to eat dinner.

"Raymond... what did you do today?" the old mother asked with some concern.

She saw the wounds and worn skin on her son's hands, and the blood had just scabbed over.

"What else can I do? Cut down trees, dig ditches, set up fences, and chop firewood. Every item must be done ten to ten, and some must be increased, otherwise it will be a severe beating." Raymond sighed: "The knight It is said that the master left for something, and his housekeeper will be even more vicious... Thank you Ma'am, thank you Ms. Shalia, I finally came back alive, Mom, what are you doing at home?"

"Me? I sew and mend... boil water for cooking." The old mother's eyes moved away unnaturally.

"Where's Thomas?"

"Thomas is asleep," said the old mother hastily.

"...I've finished eating, is there any more?" Raymond ate half of the black bread very quickly. Even so, the serf still felt a strong sense of hunger.

"Go and rest, it will be better if you fall asleep." The old mother shook her head silently.

Can't eat any more, really can't eat any more.

Raymond didn't say any more, he had to do hard labor tomorrow, the family put out the fire and went to rest early.

…………

The old mother was lying on the bed, unable to sleep for a long time.

Since her husband died in the Chivalry War five years ago, the life of their family has become worse and worse. Before, they could barely guarantee food and clothing, but now they are hungry and full. Every time between harvests, the family often runs out of food .

And worse is yet to come.

The chivalry war five years ago is said to have been a complete victory in the end, but none of the knights and soldiers of the Leonese Principality came back, and the law and order became worse. Bandits and robbers appeared everywhere. Occasionally, a small number of beastman tribes came out to look for them. food for winter,

Robbers, bandits, and wild beasts gradually left the forest and harassed the villages near the forest. Due to poor harvests, the precarious peace was severely damaged. The reduced number of garrison troops was transferred to the vicinity of cities and noble manors to ensure the safety of the lord's property. To them the poor and defenseless serfs were thrown.

Robbers and brigands always rush into the villages looking for anything of value. Their favorite places are the houses where the old people live and the taverns in the village. There are shiny coins in the houses of the old people, and there are grain and ale.

If the serfs resisted, they would be killed. If they chose to escape, most of them would starve to death or be hunted in the wild. If they sat and waited to die...they would lose their rations, and finally died.

Several villages met a tragic fate.

The source of income of noble gentlemen has decreased, but their income cannot be reduced. Their luxurious banquets, high expenses and family children all need a lot of expenses. on the heads of the serfs.

So in addition to ten taxes and nine, the serfs were also deprived of their rations. The tax collectors taught the serfs the truth that "this will make the kingdom better", and then mercilessly took away most of the serfs' rations .

Has the kingdom really gotten better? The old mother didn't know, she only knew that life was getting worse, the tax collectors came more diligently every time, and asked for more than once, they might have already decided on seed food.

At this time, there was a slight noise in the quiet room.

The cold wind was blowing against the wooden windows, making a snoring sound, which greatly affected the old mother's hearing, but she had lived in this house for decades, and any noise could not be hidden from her.

Raymond got up secretly, the serf dragged his tired body, he got up secretly in the dark, the eldest son swallowed hard, his stomach was growling.

He is so hungry.

The old mother didn't say a word, she had tears in her eyes, and tried hard to cover her mouth to keep herself from making a sound.

"Swish~" She heard the sound of Raymond turning the bread basket, and the sound of the knife used to cut bread being taken off the wall.

Then there was the soft chewing sound, which should have been covered by the wind, but for some reason, the old mother felt that she could hear it very clearly.

"Raymond, what's the matter? Did something happen?" The old mother finally decided to speak out, and she choked up and said, "Why did you get up?"

"Ding!" The knife fell to the ground.

"I...I heard some wind...check...whether the windows are closed tightly." Lei Meng was obviously taken aback when he heard his mother's voice, and there was a lot of panic in his voice: "Recently, in the village... There are not many more, I am worried that someone will come to steal...stolen food."

The son had lied, and Raymond had lied to himself, just as he had lied to Raymond.

"If you're fine, go to bed early, you have to do hard labor tomorrow." The old mother's voice was full of tears, and tears flowed down her wrinkled face.

"Mom!" Raymond didn't know that his behavior of stealing bread had been discovered by his mother, and the serf sobbed, "I'm sorry, Mom, I'm so hungry."

"I know, I know everything." The old mother also cried: "How will I live this day? The food is about to run out, and your brother is still starving."

"We farm, but the food is theirs. We hunt, but the prey is theirs. We fish, and the fish and shrimps are theirs too. Mom, when he was doing labor today, Alan's father was crushed to death by a log because he was hungry. We've run out of energy, we can't go on living this day!"

"Ah! Alan's father is dead? He's only thirty-five years old. Alan's mother died early. How will he live the rest of his life? He..."

Raymond thought over and over again, and finally made up his mind: "Mom, let's run away. Take Thomas with us. Our family of three will run away far away. If we don't run away, we will starve to death if we continue like this. I overheard the knight's death today." According to the master butler's order, this year's winter wheat will be taxed!"

"Huh? Taxes still need to be raised?" The sudden bad news made the old mother almost unable to breathe. Under the circumstances that more than half of the rations would be collected, the lord also wanted to raise taxes? !

"Yes, this year's grain harvest is poor, and the lord may lose a lot of income, so the housekeeper and the tax officer plan to continue to increase taxes, because the tasks left by the lord must be completed." Raymond hesitated, he said to his mother : "Mom, there is no hope in this day. Even if the winter wheat can be harvested, those things are not ours. Not only are they not ours, but we don't know where to get more food, so that those greedy tax officials will be satisfied. "

The dark room is like a big black hand, holding the necks of the poor and pressing them down.

In the past, even if there was no food at home, the serfs could still go to the forest to collect berries and try hunting. The lord had expressly stipulated that among the prey, the serfs could hunt rabbits and birds by themselves. In principle, the berries belonged to the lord, but most lords were open to this. Close your eyes, you can still live this day.

But now the law and order is so bad, how dare the serfs enter the forest? If you are lucky, you will get something to eat for a day or two. If you are unlucky, you will never come back.

"Escape? If you escape, you will die if you are caught! You will be hanged by the knight master!" The old mother hesitated and said, "It's too dangerous, Raymond, how are we going to escape?"

"...Everyone is very hungry, many people are very hungry, there are many young men like me who are strong and know how to use dung forks and hoes, mother." Raymond hesitated for a while, but decided to say: "Many young men have already There's nothing... Lord Knight has food at home, plenty of grain, a lot of people want a full meal, we smell bacon and butter, a full meal, they don't care anymore, mother, you know I'm in say what?"

"You mean, they plan to..." The old mother opened her mouth in surprise.

"Yes, so, this is an opportunity, we can escape, the housekeeper's energy will be on those boys, no one will care about us, we can escape, no matter where we go, it is better than starving to death, Lark next door Made an appointment with us, tomorrow evening, those boys will rush into Lord Knight’s house together to look for food, and we can take the opportunity to escape.” Raymond panted heavily: “Mom, I have you and brother, I can’t follow Those boys are going to riot, you will be implicated by me, we can't do nothing, let's run, mother!"

"Be a fugitive slave... Be a fugitive slave." The old mother murmured to herself.

"Mom! If we don't do anything, we will starve to death! I can't lose you and my brother. Tomorrow night, we will run in opposite directions. We will succeed. Tomorrow, you pack up your things, boil water and cook for the whole family to eat." Once we are full, we will escape!"

"Okay... okay."

…………

The next evening, a long-simmering riot finally set the village on fire. Want to chat about "" with more like-minded people, follow "Youdu Literature" on WeChat, chat about life, and find friends~