In the upper reaches of the tributary valley, the cruel battle had just begun, and Hu Lin's face was already blackened by the smoke of gunpowder.

The attacking cannons were resting because of overheating. Two barricades with the Republic's dragon flag had been blown away. Those who had obtained guns from some unknown place, and those rebels who were simple farm tools had been shaken.

He is not the only one who came here from Fujian City. Many people with a sense of helplessness with the friendship between the old and the new came here and supported the core of the battle.

But before the real attack began, these people were already in a sign of defeat. The four cannons rushed through two barricades with a very slow rate of fire. Many people thought that the people on the other side would restrain themselves by planting the flag of the Republic, but in fact, after both sides fired, the cannons began to roar.

Hu Lin originally wanted to dissuade these people, at least stop the tragedy, but found that someone was mingling in it and constantly inciting anger.

Maybe a few days ago, he would have thought it was out of anger or passion, but now after that day, he felt that the people who were mixed in were not simple.

Beside him was a poor young man who had his leg broken by a shell and was now dead.

After the six-pound iron ball flew up, it jumped from the street and passed the barricades piled up by wood and the stones of the demolished hydraulic spinning mill, and directly hit the poor man.

He died of blood after leaving too much blood, his face was pale, and he was holding a small wooden bracelet in his hand, and he didn't know who he wanted to give it to.

Not long ago, this was still a living person. He was a little shy when facing a famous big man like Hulin who came from Fujian City.

Not long ago, the poor young man told Hu Lin why he chose to fight.

"Sir, we are different from you. I have a small house in this small town with three acres of land. But three acres of land can only support my life. Life is tight and I can't do anything. I heard that a new thing called sweet potato has come to Fujian City. One acre of land can produce a lot, but I just heard that I dare not try it. If I don't say so much, I will not be able to live this life."

"The people here are all like this. They have a few acres of very small land. They spin and weave cloth in their spare time and sell some money to subsidize their household income."

"When I was a kid, I wanted a new dress. I didn't wear a single one that fits it since I can remember, and it was always much bigger. My mother said that it would be better to wear it for three years, and then it would be broken when it was washed and it would be used as a patch. Otherwise, it would be changed every year, and it would not be possible."

"Later, I cried all day long, and my mother said to me, 'Son, do you want to wear new clothes?' I said, my mother said, 'Look, this is cotton. I twist it into thread, spin it into yarn, and then weave it into cloth. After selling the cloth, I buy cotton, spin it into thread, and weave it into cloth. In this way, one pound of cotton will turn into two pounds, and two pounds will turn into four pounds. When it becomes four pounds, my mother will make you new clothes'."

"I was so happy at that time. I said, 'Mom, then I'll help you spin yarn. If you weave cloth, can you quickly turn into four kilograms of cotton?'? My mom is right in praise of me, and I started learning to spin yarn from then on."

"The life is just like this. My father died, my mother is gone, and I grew up. Suddenly one day, the yarn became valuable. The one sold expensively. The person who collected the yarn in the town took the initiative to lend us cotton and asked us to help spin. He took it back. At that time, I heard that there was a new loom. The cloth was sold very well and weaving quickly, so the yarn was valuable. I thought, a good life finally came, and if I sold it, I would buy a new loom."

"I just remembered the cotton thing my mother said. If I could buy a loom, make money to buy two, and then I would hire someone, ten or eight years later, I would become a person with dozens of new looms."

"But the new loom is expensive. I heard that there are cooperatives elsewhere, but we don't have one, so I can't afford it. If the cotton given by those who collect yarn is taken back, I can't make much money. I thought, it's better to sell these three acres of land and buy some cotton to get a good year. I might as well be rich in two years."

"But when I was waiting to sell the land, the cotton became more expensive. I said I had a futures exchange. But even if it was a little more expensive, I still made a profit, but I only made less. But I didn't expect that I had a sick time and finally saved some money, which was equivalent to working in vain for more than half a year."

"When I finally recovered from my illness, many hydraulic yarn mills have begun to be built here. They can see dozens of spindles by themselves, and the spinning is thin and strong, and they are rich and never lose cotton. Sometimes we can't buy it even if we want to. How can we compete with others?"

"It turned out that one, two, and then ten and twenty, our place, which was not very good, became prosperous, but what does it have to do with me?"

"I sold the land, but I didn't make any money in spinning, and life became more and more difficult. Sometimes, after I sold it after spinning, I couldn't make much money in cotton. I still have to eat, and life became more and more difficult."

"I thought about forgetting it, and I went to the cotton mill to work, but some people did it. And many young children asked for cheaper prices, and their fingers were working, and they learned things quickly. What should I compare to?"

"At that time, I thought, this is fate. If I had sold three acres of land and bought a new hand-pulled loom, it would have been different now. The looms were not as hydraulic machinery, and the cloth was getting easier and easier to sell. Several of them sold looms at the time, and now they had their own industries and bought more than a dozen looms."

"But what's the use of regret? The ground is gone and the yarn is not valuable. I only have such a small spinning wheel left. But I have to pay interest every year when I owed the debt I used to, so I won't want it because I am a poor family."

"Sir, why do you think we are for? To live and to eat. And what the big guys from your city said, for dignity."

"What is dignity? Dignity is when I wanted a new dress. My mother said that I could get it by working hard. This is dignity, the dignity of the workers. If you don't steal, rob, or cheat, if you want a new dress, you can use a spinning wheel at home to turn it into four kilograms of cotton. No matter how ugly it looks, even if you can only dye it with tanned blackspots, you can wear it comfortably. That was made by me myself."

"What's the matter now? Who wants to make trouble? Who doesn't want to live a good life? But I want to work, who will give me this opportunity?"

"Someone came and told us that the Fujian city revolution was going to change, and someone finally took care of our lives. But what happened? What changed? Nothing changed."

"Someone is here again, saying that the educated families in the north will not forget us, and the king will not forget us. As long as we rise up and resist, let the world know what we want, the king will come to deal with those unscrupulous factory owners."

"We not only have to rise up and resist, but also raised a few copper coins from one person and asked someone to go to the capital to petition! I didn't want to get rich anymore, so I just wanted to go back to the day when I had three acres of land and a small spinning wheel. If I want to go back, I have to smash those harmful machines."

"But this is not possible. People say we are in a riot! If you smash a machine, you will have to hang it. Life is worse than a machine. Only then can I understand what dignity is."

Hulin remembered that after this young man said this, he smiled at Hulin and said, "I didn't believe that the king would pity us and think about our lives or death. But this gentleman, I believed you when I saw you. Seeing what you were wearing, I heard that you were still the representative of the Council. I thought, there are always good people in this world, and there are good people like you, let alone the king and those big families?"

"You said that they are so rich, and they have land, at least they don't need to open a sponge mill, right? They definitely can't open it, and they will definitely pity us. Really, those who are truly rich are good people. What do you think of these sponge mills for? Not for money? If he has hundreds of thousands of acres of land and tens of thousands of acres of duty-free military fields, would he be the one who opens a sponge mill?"

"Yes, there were bad things in the past, but at least we could survive. Now you say everything is good and wonderful, but we can't survive."

The teeth that are mixed with yellow and are reluctant to use tooth powder to clean them always smell uncomfortable when they speak, but Hu Lin sat aside and listened quietly, without avoiding or covering his mouth and nose.

Originally, he wanted to tell this young man that it was not the machine's fault, but the unfair distribution. But before he could speak, an iron ball ended the young man, hoping that someone would save him and return to the past. What he was thinking about was the pitiful life of the new clothes made by his mother.

…………

The battle was not fierce. Even though the attacking party was not a regular army, the armed employees of the Nanyang Company also received professional flintlock queue training, and the artillery was graduated from a new school, so there was no suspense.

Hulin was lucky. He flew past him a few times, but his ancestors did not take him to the land of heroes.

But while the battle was still going on, the organizers of the resistance went to find Hulin and asked Hulin to follow them.

There is a boat right by the sea.

"Mr. Zhu Qian, it's still time to leave now. Let's go to the capital to announce the truth here, let the Chinese people know what kind of massacres have happened here, knowing the petitions of these people, and also let the ridiculous Min County Council become the executioner of rebellion and massacre! You are a famous person, and these words make you more effective. As long as you arrive in the capital, someone will create momentum. Let's go, the blood of these people will be emptied!"

Hu Lin wiped the black gray and sweat from his face, listened to the messy voices that were still ringing in the distance, and thought of the document he signed in the Mo Party’s Party before the miner petitioned a few years ago that he signed in the Mo Party’s Party’s Party Department that could not control the situation and all the members of the organization must die in the party building. A smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he missed those people, things and those days.

So, he asked, "Is it just a boat?"

"yes."

“Are you ready?”

"yes."

"How many people can you pretend?"

"A dozen."

"So you wanted to run away from the beginning? You wanted to exchange the blood of these people for what you want? The anger of the Chinese people? The suppression of the new council of Fujian City? The blood of these people is just your tool? The more blood flows, the better the bloody steamed buns will be, right? You knew from the beginning that you could not beat them, and even prepared a boat for yourself, but you fired the gun during the previous negotiations, right?"

Hu Lin stopped talking nonsense, took out the empty flintlock spear, smashed it to the head of a person in front, and shouted: "No one is allowed to leave! Go to the meeting to explain clearly!"

Bang... The moment he hit, Hulin felt a coldness on his waist.

"It seems like a knife."

He thought about this, then fell to the ground and watched the people leave in a hurry.

…………

Open your eyes and it was a small white room painted with lime.

The strong smell of alcohol mixed with the herbal smell of Tian Qi and Pu Huang, and the voice of a woman in the distance drifted into Hu Lin's ears in a vague way.

"Avoid eating broad beans, fishy, ​​and sour and cold. It's cold, so it should be fine..."

I didn't hear the following words clearly, but Hu Lin knew that he should not be dead, his head was dizzy, and there were several traces of blood transfusions inserted in his arms.

Staring at the snow-white roof above my head, an old face suddenly appeared. This face was very familiar, but it has become unfamiliar over the years.

But blood is always thicker than water, thicker than anger, and thicker than young passion.

"father……"

He hadn't called for a long time, and the second word he learned in this life was called out. Before going to the river valley, he left a letter to Chen Jian, but did not leave it to his father, because he would not give up what he wrote, and his father asked him to declare that it was nonsense and that he burned the things he had burned.

The old man had tears in the corners of his eyes and smiles in his mouth. He knew what his son wanted to know. When he was about to deceive him, he saw that few people had died, but he saw his son's cracked and pale mouth moving.

The voice was very weak, and the old man leaned over and finally heard what he wanted to hear most in nearly twenty years.
Chapter completed!