Okay, here is the translation of the provided Chinese novel excerpt, following all the given rules and guidelines:

While the stated purpose was to check on the situation of the refugees outside the city gates, without a basis for comparison to previous conditions, and lacking individuals who truly understood the situation, Ning Yi could not simply look at the number of people and draw any conclusions. Actually, this trip was primarily because he had been staying in Peaceful Lane for several days, and now he wanted to see the state of the city with his own eyes.

As an outsider to a certain extent, Ning Yi could mostly view the chaotic scenes inside and outside the city as a simple disaster movie. In this era, as long as the city's order still existed, even the most arduous hardships would not truly affect people with some financial means.

However, on the other hand, facing the many desolate scenes in the rain, even Ning Yi could not help but feel sympathy, just like the situation in Jiangning last year when the city was closed due to floods. That time, there was mostly famine, but this time the situation was even more apparent, with people injured in the earthquake, people who lost their homes, or beggars and refugees.

In such circumstances, if injured, a large number of people could not afford to see a doctor, let alone buy medicine. Makeshift shelters were erected amidst the uncleaned ruins on both sides of the road, and the people living inside all looked miserable, some braving the rain to rummage through the ruins of their homes. Those who were seriously injured or had lost limbs were homeless, huddling under dilapidated eaves with mats, their fates uncertain. This was already the fifth day after the earthquake, and while some might have wailed in the earlier days, most people had been exhausted into silence by this point.

There were also children who had lost their parents, or were originally beggar children with their father or mother. Injured or uninjured, some were shivering in the rain, while others were curled up in places that could provide shelter from the rain. Some cried, but they had already cried themselves hoarse. Extremely hungry children secretly rummaged through the ruins, and if they could find something to eat, whatever it was, they would immediately stuff it into their mouths. But this was not an era of abundant food like later generations, and no one's home was likely to have much food. More often, they were seen and chased away.

Boys and girls were all the same in this situation, not cute at all. Life and reality could not afford such romantic or effeminate jokes here. Children wandering in the rain were just like stray dogs. There were also people from slightly wealthier families who, after dealing with their own situations, could afford to have some compassion. But with the current level of productivity, no amount of kindness was enough. The government or large households like the Qian family would also provide some porridge to prevent some people from dying, but it could not hide the despair of the small number of people who had lost their future.

Ultimately, this was the era. Like Hangzhou and Jiangning, if only a few dozen people froze to death outside the city in winter, that would be a truly prosperous age. Ning Yi could basically understand this, but he still felt a bit heavy-hearted when he saw these things. This was just the situation that could be seen in the streets of the city. Su Tan'er, Xiao Chan, and the others also felt sympathy, but they were used to it, so their mood was not as melancholic as Ning Yi's.

After slightly opening the carriage window and watching for a while, seeing that Ning Yi looked serious and was not in high spirits, Xiao Chan gently said, "Xiao Chan was also sold because her family was about to starve to death..." She just wanted to comfort Ning Yi and did not show any self-pity. Ning Yi smiled, and Su Tan'er put her arm around her and let her rest her forehead on her shoulder, then stroked her hair.

The situation outside the city could not be seen in detail. In fact, the increased number of refugees in the past few days had at least surrounded several city gates of Hangzhou. The soldiers of the Wu De Camp had taken control of the city gates. The gates were not closed, but it was quite troublesome to enter or exit. Ning Yi had a credential given by the Qian family, but there was no need to go out. Their carriage and attire would probably be surrounded as soon as they left the city gates.

Ning Yi got out of the carriage near the city gate and went to look around for a while. Soon, vigilant soldiers came to inquire, and Ning Yi took out the Qian family's visiting card. The soldier then walked away. The environment outside the city gate was harsh, with mud everywhere. Some of the soldiers had set up sheds outside the city to maintain order, mainly to keep the main roads open.

The collapsed part of the city wall was not far from here, and a large number of workers were laboring there. At this time, the city was busy with self-help, cleaning up the mess in their own homes, so there were not many workers that could be hired. More than half of them were likely selected from the refugees outside the city, all men with some strength, who were given rice and meals, so they seemed very motivated here.

Just by looking at this, Ning Yi understood in his heart.

"Not only Hangzhou, but Suzhou is also affected. There are too many victims. If you want to travel by land, you will probably be robbed not far from here. For the time being, we can only stay here and wait for the situation to improve..."

Returning to the carriage, Ning Yi sighed. He was about to have the carriage return to Peaceful Lane when he heard the voices of people outside the city gradually getting louder in the rain. He didn't know what had happened. Ning Yi listened for a while, and vaguely heard someone shouting, "We want to see the Prefect, we want to see the Prefect..." It seemed that the refugees outside had started a riot.

Faced with this kind of thing, the Wu De Camp stationed near the city wall did not panic. Ning Yi peered out of the carriage curtain and saw a general go up to the city wall in the misty rain to take a look. At the same time, a team of soldiers went to guard the city wall construction site, a team of people remained stationed at the city gate, and another team rushed out to be responsible for comforting or suppressing the situation. Several old men passed by near the city gate, and Ning Yi heard them say, "Ah, it's happening again."

"They are not having an easy time either..."

It seemed that this kind of small disturbance was not the first time it had happened. After a while, the commotion outside the city stopped. Ning Yi did not hear any screams, so it was probably not a bloody suppression of arrests and killings. After watching this boringly for a while, Ning Yi waved his hand and ordered them to go back.

That afternoon, near dusk, the rain gradually stopped. The haze in the rain faded away, the air was fresh, and a rainbow appeared in the sky. The trees planted in Peaceful Lane also became greener, seemingly indicating that this disaster had finally taken a preliminary breath, and what followed was the real aftermath and reconstruction.

Since he understood that he had to stay here for the time being, Ning Yi had already begun planning for his family to stay here for more than a month. For example, with the city gates closed, the supply of various vegetables would probably be cut off, and the cellars of many homes had probably collapsed. These things had to be considered. Of course, the Su family had just swallowed one-third of the Wu family's assets and money, so it was extremely wealthy at this time. Having a rift with the Lou family allowed Su Tan'er to directly abandon the business here. No matter how high the price of rice and vegetables, they could afford it, so the problem was not big.

Originally, the Lou family's hostility was also a relatively big problem, but the sudden earthquake should have disrupted their attention. After things settled down, even if the other party really had any bad intentions, Ning Yi and the others could naturally seek protection from the Qian family. His gunpowder was also a preparation made considering the Lou family's problems.

Although he himself had experienced many things and had enough emergency turnaround ability, Ning Yi was keen on overt schemes, such as the planning of a large amount of intelligence information, such as higher-level forces, like Yang Wei-li in *Legend of the Galactic Heroes*: if we didn't lack troops, who would want to use clever plans? It would be truly foolish to stubbornly fight to the death with others here with the resources at hand. If the other party was really unwilling to give up and planned to do something, he would simply handle the Lou family through Old Qin after going to the capital, and it would be a situation of easy victory without needing to think too much.

So, in the afternoon, he arranged household chores with Su Tan'er. By dusk, smoke from cooking fires rose everywhere in Hangzhou - at this time, the wood and firewood were mostly wet - and set against the setting sun and rainbow, it looked like a bustling large tribe. A dog chased the rainbow on the road, running and barking, which also seemed lively and full of life.

"Actually, dogs are colorblind... They can't see the rainbow, they can only feel it..."

For the first time in several days, sunlight appeared. The family gathered inside and outside the courtyard waiting for dinner. Ning Yi and Xiao Chan smiled and talked about the dog, and the children also came over, curiously asking various questions. Su Tan'er, at this time, sat carelessly amidst the ruins next to her, holding her cheeks and smiling as she watched this scene. At this time, she also slightly let go of the tension she had been holding for several days, and restrained the aura of a strong woman, looking like a pure young woman watching her beloved husband.

Then came a peaceful night, even more peaceful than the previous rainy nights. The seven guards led by Geng were taking turns guarding the night, and the city, tired for several days, seemed to have finally gotten a long-awaited sleep. The fighting and noise that could be felt in the city day and night in the previous days had also subsided, but in the middle of the night, a street nearby had a thief, and shouts were faintly heard.

The next day, the sun rose high.

Everything was proceeding as usual. In the daytime when the sun was out, everyone seemed to be working energetically. However, by noon, the hot sun initially dried the moisture, as if pulling a few sections from the plum rain season back to the height of summer. In the afternoon, a team of soldiers suddenly came towards Peaceful Lane. From a distance, it could be seen that a young general was leading the team. At this time, Ning Yi happened to be chatting with Xiao Chan on the street, and by the way looking at the surrounding work. The young general seemed to have asked one or two people at the street entrance, then looked this way, his eyes looking far to Ning Yi. He raised his head, grabbed the hilt of his sword, and was about to come over.

That should be Lou Shuheng calling someone over to cause trouble... At a glance, Ning Yi could probably confirm this. He sighed a little in his heart. In his original expectations, in the first two days of the earthquake, the legal system could no longer be taken into account. If it were him, he would simply gather a group of people, disguise their identities and directly kill dozens of people in his family, make it look like a robbery. Even if no one died, they could be crippled, and there would be no way to investigate afterwards. But it seemed that the Lou family had suffered some major damage, so they couldn't react for a while. Now that they wanted to come again, the people of the entire Peaceful Lane had temporarily united for the sake of the chaos in the city, so they had to use other methods.

The young general was leading more than twenty people to come over when several warhorses galloped from the other side of the street. There were a total of five knights who blocked in front of the team. The leader was a vice-general. The young general had a lower rank and quickly saluted. The two sides said a few words. The young general glared at Ning Yi hatefully, led the team away, and then the five knights came this way. The vice-general dismounted and cupped his hands at Ning Yi. It was the soldier who had fought Ning Yi on Small Yingzhou a few days ago, seemingly called Yuan Dingqi.

After a brief greeting, the other party was not pretentious and said directly, "The Lou family's young master has already declared among his friends that he wants to find trouble with Young Master Ning, but Young Master doesn't need to worry about this matter. Mr. Qian's guests will never be harassed in Hangzhou. Today's matter, as soon as Commander Du heard about it, he ordered Yuan to bring this token to Young Master Ning. If any military personnel come to make trouble in the future, Young Master Ning can just take out the token and show it to them."

As Yuan Dingqi spoke, he handed Ning Yi a token engraved with the character "Du." This was naturally not a token for formally mobilizing the army, but just a personal proof belonging to the current commander of the Wu De Army. That commander was named Du Hong, styled Ruofei. It was said that Commander Du understood some poetry and was a famous scholar-general. He had a teacher-student relationship with Qian Xiven, and even this style name was asked from Qian Xiven. At this time, military officers were not valued, and it was not easy for that general to climb up to a scholar's status, and he was quite proud of being a student of the Qian family. Although he did not know Ning Yi this time, he immediately sent someone over to help.

Yuan Dingqi had fought Ning Yi on Small Yingzhou last time and was also a little curious about the fact that this scholar knew martial arts. His superior's learning of literature was called affectation, which many people did, but it was rare for a scholar to practice martial arts. Naturally, he asked a few more questions and then said with a smile that he wanted to ask for advice one day, then left with his men, not lingering at all.

With this token, the possibility of the military system wanting to make trouble for him for no reason was not high.

That day, this small episode occurred. Time gradually passed, night fell and gradually deepened. Probably around dawn, some things happened unexpectedly.

When the riot broke out, Ning Yi also woke up from bed. Tan'er gently hugged him by his side and refused to let go. He separated his wife's hands, waited for a while, put on his clothes, and went out. The northern part of the city was already burning red, looking like the great fire in the city on the night of the earthquake. Smoke obscured the night sky.

Geng and the other guards were also looking in the courtyard at this time. Ning Yi went over and looked a few times. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know how it started burning..."

"This sound of fighting the fire is really chaotic..."

Various noisy sounds vaguely spread from the night sky. After a moment, Su Tan'er, who had put on her clothes, also came out. Chan'er rubbed her eyes and came out from the next room. "It just rained, how could it burn so much?"

"Hopefully it's just a fire..."

Ning Yi frowned and said.

However, it was more than just a fire.

As dawn approached, the chaotic sounds became louder, and then suddenly someone brought news, "They're fighting, they're fighting. Those people in the north of the city are fighting with the people from the Wu De Camp. I heard people have died..."

Yesterday, Ning Yi had not heard too much news from the city. After all, the heavy rain had just stopped, and everyone had a feeling of revitalizing. However, it was also yesterday that the army began to collect corpses again to dispose of them. After that, there were some small frictions with the people in the north of the city who had already set up mourning halls.

Then at night, a fire broke out. Several mourning halls, large and small, in several streets caught fire at the same time. Dozens of corpses that had already been placed in coffins were burned, and the fire spread out and could not be stopped in an instant. Among them, dozens of people were burned to death like this. This uncontrollable fire stunned everyone. Then, when someone came out and said that they had seen soldiers from the Wu De Camp setting the fire, the people from several streets instantly clashed with the soldiers who came over.

The people here did not yet know the situation over there, but it sounded like the situation was getting worse as dawn broke. Then they heard gongs and horns sounding urgently. The western part of the city also began to riot. When Ning Yi and the others set up a simple defense and blocked the entrance to Peaceful Lane, the Deputy Neighborhood Chief hurried back, panting, and then they saw more than ten Jianghu people holding knives and swords rushing from one side of the road, seeming to want to directly kill their way into Peaceful Lane.

This matter was sudden. It seemed that some people who originally wanted to fish in troubled waters had found an opportunity at this time. The force organized in Peaceful Lane was mainly based on the Liu Martial Arts Hall, but they did not engage the ten or so people in close combat. Ning Yi and the others could not distinguish much at this time, so they just picked up stones and threw them back. Two people were hit with bloody heads, and the other side ran away in a riot.

"What exactly happened?"

Ning Yi turned his head and asked. The Deputy Neighborhood Chief was still in shock, "Something happened, something happened. They're fighting in the north of the city, people have died..."

"We knew people died a long time ago, how could it be like this."

"A big shot died, the situation can't be cleaned up, there was one... one vice-general went over to appease, and was accidentally killed. That vice-general, seems to be called Yuan, Yuan Dingqi, was accidentally killed in the crowd, I heard his head was chopped off with a knife... They've gone berserk, it's going to be chaos now... We quickly guard the intersection, don't let anyone in..."

"Chopped... off with a knife?"

Ning Yi was stunned for a long time, recalling that Yuan Dingqi. His martial arts could not be judged, but his skills should be higher than his own. It was said that he was also very powerful. Would such a person be killed in a chaotic sword fight by ordinary people because of some civilian unrest?

Ning Yi felt a bad feeling in his heart, and even couldn't help but smile. Such a person... made his neck feel slightly cool.

Then, in the midst of the chaos, that feeling began to turn into reality. News came that refugees were taking the opportunity to riot at the West Gate. That was a real rebellion, but it was not successful. In the morning, it was blocked outside the city gate by the prepared Wu De Camp. But a piece of information had clearly come over.

On the seventh day after the earthquake, the men of Fang La had initially completed their gathering and were brazenly attacking!

************

I always think that 3k party is great, fixed 3k words a day is almost enough, so it is more lasting, but always accidentally code to 5k, look, it is two in the morning. What I originally wanted to say tomorrow's birthday has become today's birthday...

Well, it's my birthday today, it's a really complicated feeling. To say the old saying, I haven't done anything bad, and suddenly I'm a year older...

So, everyone, for the sake of my birthday, give me some monthly tickets ^_^

ps: The main text is full of five thousand words. (To be continued.) Vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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