In the past few days, many beaten soldiers have passed through downtown Rouen. It is not a team at all, just some scattered nomadic tribes. The brothers' faces were covered with dirty and long beards, and they were dressed in tattered uniforms, and there was no league flag and name. They walked forward with a tired attitude. Everyone seems to be crushed, so dull that they can't remember anything and can't make up their minds. They just move forward because of habit. If they stop, they will fall down immediately because they have no strength. What we have seen is mainly that some people who applied for mobilization orders and many national guards known for their alertness went out to fight this time: the former are peaceful people living on fixed interest, all bent over and holding rifles; The latter is easily frightened and impulsive, ready to charge and desert at any time. Among these two kinds of people, there are several red-trousers infantry who are the remnants of a certain division after being annihilated in a fierce battle; Many frustrated artillery mixed with these different kinds of infantry; Occasionally, a dragoon with a shiny bronze helmet trudged behind the brisk pace of the infantry. Many volunteer teams have been set up in the name of various heroes. Their names are: the failed revenge team-the ruined citizen team-the death sharing team, and they all passed with the breath of bandits. Some of their leaders are wool merchants or grain merchants, others are cattle, sheep, oil merchants or soap merchants, and they are all bankrupt. After the war broke out, they all became timely soldiers, and because they had silver dollars or beards as officers, they were covered with weapons, red velvet tapestries and gold thread. They talked loudly and discussed the battle plan. France, dying in an exaggerated tone, relies on the shoulders of those who brag about it. However, according to some people, the Prussians are about to enter the center of Rouen. Since two months ago, the city's national guard has carefully done a lot of reconnaissance work in the middle of the nearby forest, and occasionally fired a shot, injuring its sentry by mistake. Sometimes, when a little rabbit moves among thorns, they are ready to fight. Now they have all gone home. Instruments and clothes, as well as all the weapons they used to scare people around the national road three miles outside the city, suddenly disappeared. The last batch of French soldiers finally crossed the Seine, from Sanwei and Blacha to the Odeme Bridge. Walking at the end was a teacher. He couldn't figure out what to do with these messy defeated soldiers, but he watched in despair that a famous warrior nation collapsed because of a fiasco, and only two adjutants accompanied him on foot. Subsequently, the urban area was shrouded in a deep quiet atmosphere and a frightening lonely waiting state. Many paunchy rich people, blinded by business, are waiting for the winner gloomily, and they can't help shivering at the thought that the barbecue iron fork and meat cleaver in their kitchen are used as weapons.

Life seems to have stopped, the shops are closed and the streets are silent. Occasionally, a resident who is timid because of the silence of this society will slip away quickly along the wall. The boredom of waiting makes people expect the enemy to come soon. The afternoon after the French army completely retreated, three or five Prussian cavalry came out of nowhere and hurried through the city. Later, in a short time, a bunch of dark horses came down from the hillside near Kade, Shantou. At the same time, two other people appeared on the road in Yale, Dahlner and the road in Qium Forest. The outposts of these three forces met in the city square at the same time; Finally, the main force of the German army came up from the nearby streets, one camp after another, and the stones in the street gave out loud and rhythmic footsteps. Many passwords were shouted in a strange and hard-jawed voice, rising to the sky along those empty houses that looked lifeless. Although the shutters of the houses are closed, there are countless pairs of eyes watching these victorious people, who have obtained the status of masters of life and property in the city according to the "Law of War". The residents are afraid and confused in the dark room, and they are suffering from the cross flow of flood and ground collapse. If they want to fight such a disaster, then any intelligence and strength are useless. Because every time the order of everything is subverted, every time security no longer exists, and every time everything that has been protected by man-made or natural laws is under the control of an unconscious cruel violence, this same feeling will inevitably appear. Whether the earthquake can make the collapsed houses destroy the whole nation, whether the river burst can make the farmers drift with the dead livestock and scattered beams, whether the victorious army slaughtered and captured the self-defenders, robbed in the name of the knife god, and thanked the gods with guns, this is also a terrible natural disaster, which also destroys any belief in eternal justice and our trust in protecting God and human rationality through education. Finally, outside each house, a small number of teams knocked at the door, and then they all disappeared into the house. This is post-invasion occupation. The obligation that the defeated should show preferential treatment to the victorious begins. Before long, once the initial terror disappeared, a new quiet atmosphere was established. In many families, Prussian officers eat with their host families. Occasionally, an officer received a good education. Out of courtesy, he also complained for France and said that he did not want to participate in this war. Because of this emotion, someone is grateful to him; Then, sooner or later, someone will need his protection. Since dealing with him, maybe we can support a few soldiers less. And why offend a completely reliable person? Although this way of doing things is not so bold as rash, rashness is no longer a shortcoming of Rouen residents, which is different from the heroic protection era that beautified their city in the past. Finally, according to the French elegant temperament, it is said that you should not get close to foreign soldiers in public, so being polite at home is allowed. So they pretended to be strangers outside the door, but they chatted happily at home. Finally, the Germans stay longer every night, warming themselves in front of the fireplace with their host family. The city even slowly returned to its usual state. The French don't go out much yet, but Prussian soldiers keep coming and going in the streets. In addition, several light cavalry officers in blue uniforms proudly dragged their long knives to the cafe on the street stone, but their contempt for ordinary residents was no more obvious than that of the French infantry officers who drank in the same cafe last year. However, there is always something in the air, something erratic and unpredictable, an unbearable strange atmosphere, as if it were a scattered smell, the smell of foreign disasters invading. It is full of private houses and public places, which makes the taste of food different. It makes people feel that they are traveling, traveling far away and entering a barbaric and dangerous tribe. Winners need money and they need a lot of money. Residents always pay by the number of people; And they are all rich. However, the richer a Norman businessman is, the more afraid he is of sacrifice and seeing a small part of his property transferred to another person. However, in the rivers about two or three leagues downstream of the city, near transcontinental, Ji 'abdalla or Besar, boatmen or fishermen often pick up German bodies from the bottom of the water. Some of these bloated bodies, wrapped in military uniforms, were stabbed to death, some were kicked to death, some were hit by stones in the head, and some were pushed off the bridge and fell into the water. Such ambiguous, barbaric and legal revenge, anonymous heroic acts and silent attacks are hidden in the sludge at the bottom of the river, which is far more terrible than daytime fighting but has no honor. Because of my hatred for the invaders, I have been able to teach three or five brave people to be extremely strong and let them risk their lives for a belief. Finally, although these intruders controlled the urban area with harsh discipline, although their appalling acts along the entire victory route have long been well known, none of them were completed in the urban area. At this time, people gradually gained confidence and the need to do business was once again launched in the minds of local businessmen. Several of them signed a very profitable contract at Harvard, and the city is still under the defense of the French army, so they all want to go to Jabu by land and then transfer to this seaport by boat. Some people took advantage of the influence of German officers they were familiar with and finally got the exit certificate issued by their commander-in-chief. Therefore, this trip booked a carriage pulled by four animals. There were 10 passengers who reserved seats in the garage, and they decided to leave before dawn on a Tuesday, so as not to let people run over and watch. The ground has been frozen hard for several days. At about 3 pm on Monday, piles of dark clouds flew from the north with snowflakes, and it rained until dark and late at night. At about 4: 30 before noon, the passengers arrived in the courtyard of Normandy Hotel, where they got on the bus. They are still shivering under their clothes. No one can see who is in the dark; And in winter, thick clothes pile up the body like some fat priests in robes. But two passengers recognized each other, and the third passenger walked up to them and they started talking. "I brought my wife." One of them said. "That's what I did." "Me too." The man went on to say, "We will never go back to Rouen again. If the Prussians go to Havel, we will come to England." Because of the similar quality, they all have the same plan. At this time, no one has hitchhiked. The door of a dark house opened, and a groom with a small lantern came out from time to time, and then immediately went into another room. Many hooves touched the ground, but the stable grass on the ground reduced the hooves, and from the end of the room came a voice of talking and scolding animals. Then there was a slight jingle of bells, reporting that someone was touching the horse's hammer; The tinkling sound soon turned into a crisp and continuous trembling, which changed with the movement of animals, sometimes stopped, and then sounded again in a sudden shaking, and the dull sound of the pounding of horses' hooves spread to the outside together.

The door suddenly closed. All the noise has stopped. The frozen citizens stopped talking; They all froze, as if frozen stiff. Continuous snowflakes fall straight to the ground like a curtain, and at the same time, they shine again; It hides the appearance of various objects, and there is a layer of ice moss on it; In this quiet and cold silence in the depths of the city, people can only hear the vague and indescribable friction of snowflakes falling. It's not sound, but feeling, as if the interlaced activities of dust filled the air and covered the earth. The groom came out again with a lantern, holding a poor horse tightly in his hand. He drew the animal closer to the shaft, fastened the harness, looked back and forth for a long time, and fastened all kinds of harnesses on the animal. Because he had a lantern in one hand and only the other hand, he went to lead the second horse. Only then did I notice that the motionless passengers were all white, so I said, "Why don't you get on the bus? At least it is covered. " They undoubtedly didn't think of this floor before, and now they all rush to the car. Three male passengers arranged their wives in the front seat and followed them; Then, other passengers with vague covers sit in the remaining seats and don't talk to each other. There are some straws under the car, and the passengers' feet are hidden there. The female guests sitting at the top of the table are all burning with copper hand stoves filled with chemical charcoal cakes. Then they listed its various benefits in a low voice and told each other what they already knew. Finally, put the car cover on, because it is difficult to pull it up, so two more animals are added to the four animals in the example. Someone asked outside the car, "but all the passengers got on the bus?" A voice in the car replied, "Yes." Everybody set out. The car is very slow, just a small step. The wheels are hidden in the snow; The whole carriage groaned, and the animals slipped, gasped and sweated. The whip in the driver's hand kept flying in all directions, twisted into a knot like a thin snake and spread out, and suddenly whipped an animal's hip. The horse was severely beaten and ran nervously. But it's getting brighter step by step. Snowflakes that were once compared to cotton rain by a pure local tourist in Rouen are gone. The faint light and dense clouds in the snowdrift make the plain, which has a row of trees and a hut with a snow helmet, even more dazzling. In the car, everyone looked at each other curiously in the twilight of dawn. On the top floor, in the best seat, Mr. Bird and his wife dozed off face to face. They are the owners of a hotel on Da Qiao Street. He once worked as a waiter with a losing boss, bought the boss's shop and made a fortune. He sold the poor wine to a small wine merchant in the country at a very low price. Among acquaintances and friends, he is regarded as a sly bad blank, a full-fledged and happy Norman. His reputation for sneaking around is so well known that one night in the governor's living room, Mr. Donne used the word "bird" to make fun of him. Mr. Donne is a writer of fables and songs, and his writing is spicy and delicate, which is a local honor. That night, he saw that the female guests seemed to be dozing off, so he proposed to play the game of "birds fluttering"; Someone knew from his tone that what he wanted to say was that birds cheated money. This sentence automatically flew to all the living rooms in the city through the living room of the governor, making people in the province laugh with their mouths open for a whole month.