The pumpkin seeds provided by the system to Zhu Xiang were directly processed pumpkin seeds. One serving of pumpkin seeds was the number of seeds in a whole pumpkin.
Zhu Xiang felt both fortunate and regretful.
If he were given 10,000 large pumpkins, he could use them to help disaster victims. But he could find an excuse to suddenly take out pumpkin seeds, but he couldn't find an excuse to suddenly take out large pumpkins.
He took out food out of thin air, and the old King of Qin didn't know whether he would worship him as a sacrifice or kill him directly.
In fact, Zhu Xiang’s excuse for taking out the pumpkin seeds was also very lame.
It's okay to fool people once or twice by saying that they were "brought by merchants", but if it happens too often, you can get away with saying that seeds that already exist, such as wheat and rice, but it's really hard to fool people with other seeds that no one has ever seen before.
But the smart people around him seemed to have suddenly become stupid at this moment, and they believed whatever Zhu Xiang said.
Even Ying Xiaozheng was acting like a real child at this moment, and said with his eyes wide open, "My uncle's eyes for shopping are so sharp, I really want to learn from him."
Ying Xiaozheng's tone and eyes were so sincere that Zhu Xiang always felt that his fat nephew was mocking his lame excuses.
Everyone around him pretended to be stupid, and Zhu Xiang also pretended to be stupid, thinking that he had gotten away with it.
Pumpkin cultivation and management can be very extensive. Zhu Xiang teaches it once and others can learn it just by watching it once.
Zhu Xiang first scalded the pumpkin seeds in water at about 50 degrees for nearly a quarter of an hour, and then soaked them in water at about 30 degrees for two to three hours to allow the pumpkin seeds to absorb enough water.
If it is a normal planting, you can directly plant pumpkin seeds at this time. However, Zhu Xiang planted pumpkins for the first time, so for safety reasons, he first raised seedlings and then transplanted them.
There is no need to fertilize or even water the seedlings when raising them. Just spray a little water when the soil is dry, and after a month, the pumpkin seedlings can be transplanted.
"When we plant next time in early spring, we just need to apply enough base fertilizer to the ground and sow the seeds directly." Zhu Xiang said, "Pumpkins are easy to grow."
Zhu Xiang was a bad namer, and mostly used names from later generations. He blindly said that "pumpkin" was a melon from the Wu and Yue regions, so it was called pumpkin. Because it was golden when ripe, it was also called golden melon.
Anyway, no one has ever seen a pumpkin, so whatever he says is what it is.
Planting pumpkin seedlings is also easy. There is no need to ridge the field. Simply divide the field into soil blocks about half a meter apart and plant them in flat beds.
Because he wanted to plant beans between pumpkins, Zhu Xiang spaced the plants a little further apart and planted beans in the middle, which could also provide fertilizer for the pumpkins.
Pumpkins only need to be fertilized with humus green manure, and manure can be added later.
"When the pumpkin vines grow to about 30 centimeters... one foot, we should start to build the racks and tie the vines to them." Zhu Xiang said, "Do you understand?"
Li Mu took a pen and paper to record what Zhu Xiang said, and said, "It's very simple in the early stage. I still need you to teach me how to build the frame and tie the vines."
Zhu Xiang said: "I will teach you when the time comes."
After completing his studies, Li Mu "changed his job" to become a military farming general. With some trepidation, he took the famine relief pumpkin seeds given by Zhu Xiang and went to the military farm to plant the crops.
Some students from the Xianyang Academy followed Li Mu for agricultural guidance.
Before entering Shu with Zhu Xiang, they were divided into various schools of thought, with Confucianism being the most numerous.
Now they all just call themselves students of Xianyang Academy, and privately call themselves students of Zhu Xiang. They do whatever Zhu Xiang asks them to do, and seem to have forgotten their own faction.
Whether it is lobbying the rich, enforcing laws or guiding agricultural science, they do it well.
None of these disciples left their names in later generations, but Zhu Xiang discovered several talented people among them.
He was looking forward to receiving unexpected favorability gifts from these academy disciples in the future - those who were on the favorability list were identified by the system as having an impact on the course of history.
While Li Mu led the Qin soldiers to plant pumpkins, Zhu Xiang continued to instruct farmers on how to repair their fields after the disaster.
Thanks to the farmers' efforts, the excess water in the fields has been drained, the silt, rotten branches and weeds have been cleaned up, and the farmers carefully cleaned and wiped the dirt off every millet plant.
This is a delicate job, and if you move a little too hard, you might damage the millet plants.
The farmers squatted on both sides of the fields, holding a watering can in one hand and a rag in the other, concentrating on washing and wiping the millet plants from the first light of dawn to the late evening. Sprinklers can be used in later generations, but now it is difficult for a farmer to finish processing an acre of land in a day.
It is necessary to clean the millet plants. The soil not only affects the maturity and filling of the millet ears, but also contains a large number of pathogens. If it is not cleaned properly, the millet plants will rot.
Zhu Xiang took Ying Xiaozheng to watch farmers wiping millet plants for a day.
They did not work in the fields, but just watched the whole day at the edge of the fields. While watching, Zhu Xiang taught Ying Xiaozheng the knowledge of remediation of fields after floods. Ying Xiaozheng and Zhu Xiang spent the day together eating steamed buns with bacon and drinking boiled water.
After returning, Ying Xiaozheng said to Zhu Xiang: "It is really hard to be a farmer. Farming is very tiring and it is not easy to grow crops."
Zhu Xiang smiled and rubbed Ying Xiaozheng's head.
The First Emperor's son now has this awareness. After he becomes the First Emperor, he will not engage in large-scale construction just because he has made great achievements comparable to those of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
"Zheng'er, your uncle has to guide the farming, so he doesn't have enough energy. You are good at arithmetic, so you will be responsible for the distribution of relief grain." Zhu Xiang said, "Pick up your abacus beads."
Ying Xiaozheng nodded: "No problem."
Compared to studying all day and trying to figure out how many meanings there are in the few words written by our predecessors, learning in public affairs is Ying Xiaozheng's favorite way of learning. Anyway, just moving the abacus beads and doing some accounting is not tiring, so just treat it as fun.
Normal children would spend their energy on playing at this moment. Ying Xiaozheng thought that he was past the age of liking toys and should treat the easy official duties as playing.
Zhu Xiang touched his fat nephew's head. As expected of the son of the First Emperor, he had the demeanor of a king at such a young age.
However, Zhu Xiang also thought that it would be more useful for Ying Xiaozheng to learn through internship rather than forcing him to read the books he had almost memorized over and over again every day.
"Follow the schedule your uncle gave you every day, combine work and rest, get enough rest every day, and never overwork yourself." Zhu Xiang reminded him, "If I hear that you don't rest according to the schedule one day, you will continue to stay in your room and listen to others reading every day."
Ying Xiaozheng's chubby face fell: "Do I have to take a nap? I can't sleep!"
"Even if you can't sleep, you should close your eyes and take a nap." Zhu Xiang said, "If you close your eyes for a while at noon every day, your body will feel a lot more relaxed. Only by sleeping more can you grow taller. You don't want to grow taller."
After Zhu Xiang finished speaking, he picked up Ying Xiaozheng and shook him.
Ying Xiaozheng's face fell even more.
He hummed in his heart, thinking that he was so tall in the dream room. When he grew up, he would pick up his uncle and shake him around.
When the pumpkin vines grew long enough to be tied to a trellis, the millet was finally ripe and the beans that had been replanted had all sprouted.
The beans grown in Shu County were also the large beans brought from Rongdi, namely soybeans, which can mature in three months.
If they add a little grain when the beans are ripe, and a little more when the pumpkins and potatoes are ripe, the time the farmers need to endure the famine will be shortened by half.
Shu County was rich in vegetation, so three months was not too difficult for the farmers in the Chengdu Plain.
However, farmers in the hilly areas east of Shu County did not have such a good life. The soil layer in the hilly areas was not very thick, and the fields were scattered. After the flood, it was very difficult to re-prepare the fields.
After the mountain torrents, there will also be secondary disasters such as landslides.
Although Zhu Xiang ordered officials to go to the mountains to warn, there were not enough officials and farmers were unwilling to leave their villages and give up their fields, so the basic warnings were useless.
One month after the flood, God gave the people of Shu County some hope, and the sky was clear for many days.
But on days when the weather cleared up, Zhu Xiang received reports of multiple landslides and villages being buried.
He couldn't even send out help.
Without excavators and the support of modern medical care, encountering a landslide would basically mean death.
Zhu Xiang could only focus his attention on other villages with better geographical locations and rescue as many people as he could to help them survive the famine.
Human hands are so small that they can hold so many things, and even if they hold things, they cannot prevent some of them from slipping through their fingers.
Zhu Xiang arranged to plant the few remaining potatoes in the mountains. In addition to potatoes, all other vacant land that needed to be replanted was replanted with beans just like the plains.
He had improved wheat and rice varieties, but at this time, the only way for farmers to survive this disaster was to plant beans that matured in three months and were not picky about the soil.
When the bean seedlings in the hilly areas also grew out, Zhu Xiang stroked the bean seedlings and wiped his eyes with his rough hands.
"It's good as long as it grows out, it's good as long as it grows out." Zhu Xiang's calloused fingers gently brushed over the bean seedlings, "There is hope as long as the bean seedlings grow out."
Even if the beans are not yet ripe, farmers can pick bean leaves to make soup, which is better than eating wild grass leaves whose toxicity is unknown.
After the bean seedlings grew out, the farmers had some free time, and Zhu Xiang could finally do work on preventing and controlling the plague.
By the time farmers were replanting, the plague had already spread throughout Shu County.
After the flood, parasitic infections and dysentery caused by water pollution, malaria and Japanese encephalitis caused by excessive mosquitoes due to damp heat, colds and heat stroke caused by damaged houses, plague caused by dead animals and rats...
There will always be a major epidemic after a major disaster, especially summer floods, where the evaporation of water and fire breeds countless plague ghosts.
While guiding farmers in disaster relief and replanting, Zhu Xiang took some measures to control the spread of the disease.
For example, teaching farmers how to identify clean water sources, burning rotten animals, killing rats and snails, and collecting potentially useful herbs... But these are just a drop in the bucket and have little effect.
Farmers cannot leave their fields. They know that the water source is polluted but have nowhere to go. It is too luxurious for them to make fire and boil water. Some farmers are too hungry to resist eating even rotten animals. Officials strictly prohibit it but it is difficult to supervise every village. Killing rats and snails requires a lot of manpower and resources. Farmers don’t have time to do these things now. Moreover, for hungry farmers, rats and snails can become food to fill their stomachs...
Only the mobilization of herbal medicine had a slight effect, at least controlling the epidemic in several large cities and towns where people gathered.
For example, in Chengdu, after Zhu Xiang announced several prescriptions that were barely effective against the epidemic, wealthy households took the initiative to collect herbs to make medicinal soups, which were distributed at several city gates. As a result, the number of people falling ill in the refugee settlements gathered at the city gates decreased, and the plague was prevented from spreading into Chengdu.
Zhu Xiang used those refugees who looked healthier to provide work-for-relief and repair the city walls and houses. Chengdu city was once again in good order after the flood.
After discussing, the wealthy and powerful people beat drums and gongs to send the book to Zhu Xiang. Zhu Xiang's reaction was indifferent.
They were very confused and asked the officials for the reason.
The official said, "Duke Zhu Xiang said that more than 50,000 people died in the flood and epidemics, and many more could not be counted. The Book of the People says that he saved the world and helped the people, but he thinks that is an exaggeration."
The rich and powerful sighed: "Natural disasters are unstoppable, why did Duke Zhu Xiang do this?"
The officials thought so too.
The power of natural disasters cannot be stopped by human power. Moreover, even if there were no natural disasters, the common people would not necessarily survive. Duke Zhu Xiang was of noble status, so there was no need for him to be depressed over the death of the common people.
However, although he thought so, he unconsciously and willingly followed Zhu Xiang's instructions and seriously did things that he would not normally do.
There were wealthy families in the city distributing medicine, so Zhu Xiang turned his attention to the villages.
He rode his horse along the roads of the larger villages described on the map of Shu County, giving them herbs as much as possible and teaching them how to survive the epidemic.
Zhu Xiang, leaning on a cane and wearing out several pairs of straw sandals, inspected several important epidemic areas and ruthlessly sent troops to blockade the epidemic areas.
The epidemic area is hell, and the outside is the human world. What Zhu Xiang has to do now is to protect the human world.
Ying Xiaozheng looked at his uncle with new respect.
He didn't expect that his uncle could be so cruel.
"If I had known, I would have stayed in Xianyang." Ying Xiaozheng sighed, "Although my great uncle has a fickle temper, at least I don't have to force myself to do things I don't like. Uncle, I'm beginning to hate Uncle Li Bing. If he doesn't let you temporarily take over as the county governor, he should do these things."
Zhu Xiang didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Zheng'er, in your eyes, how fragile is your uncle?"
Ying Xiaozheng said: "It's as fragile as the paper I write on."
Zhu Xiang kind of wanted to spank Ying Xiaozheng’s butt.
Is Zheng'er becoming more and more arrogant because his aunt is here and no one spanks him
"I feel guilty, but I have a clear conscience." Zhu Xiang said something very contradictory, "Politicians often face choices. Since I have reached this position, I must bear this responsibility."
Ying Xiaozheng curled his lips and said, "Uncle, you once said that you couldn't command an army. But at that time you said you didn't want to make such a choice, so you couldn't command an army. I think if you are really pushed to that point, you can still command an army."
Zhu Xiang rubbed the arrogant little fat boy's head vigorously: "A rabbit will bite if it is pushed too hard, let alone a human? What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Ah, when can I grow up?" The little fat boy's head shook as his uncle rubbed it. "When I grow up, I won't let my uncle do anything. My uncle only needs to enjoy the glory and wealth."
"Huh? Zheng'er, you are wasting God's gift. Don't you know how precious your uncle is?" Zhu Xiang said half-jokingly.
Ying Xiaozheng put his hands on his hips and said, "I have all the talents in the world, so it's okay if I don't have my uncle to help me."
Zhu Xiang asked: "Really?"
Ying Xiaozheng put down his hands on his waist, shrugged and said, "It's fake. But I will definitely not let my uncle do anything embarrassing."
"Then you should grow up quickly. Your uncle is looking forward to that day." Zhu Xiang carried Ying Xiaozheng on his shoulders. "Come on. Your uncle is free today. I will go shopping with you."
Ying Xiaozheng held Zhu Xiang's head and said, "I want to buy Shu brocade for my aunt!"
Zhu Xiang said: "Buy!"
Zhu Xiang was busy until October, when the beans were about to mature, the potato flowers were about to wither, and the pumpkin vines had already climbed all over the supports. Li Bing finally came back.
Ying Xiaozheng complained: "Uncle Li, do you know how much hardship your uncle has endured during this period? Why did you come back only when the harvest is almost here?"
Li Bing apologized repeatedly.
Although Ba County and Shu County are connected, Ba County is mountainous and had just encountered heavy rain, making travel difficult.
After arriving in Ba County, Li Bing wanted to borrow grain from the local tyrants in Ba County and lobbied for a long time. When he returned, the famine in Shu County was almost over.
However, the food brought by Li Bing was still very useful.
Although the winter in Shu County was not as bad as that in Qin and the Central Plains, the civilians still had a very hard time. Relying only on beans and a few potatoes was not enough for all the civilians to survive. Moreover, there were many refugees whose fields and houses were destroyed and there was no way to replant them.
Li Bing used the grain to provide work-for-relief, so the refugees could hope to survive the winter.
"The woman who escorted the grain in Ba County is called Qing. She came to Shu County to receive the Shu brocade I promised her." Li Bing sighed, "The Ba family is smarter than I thought. They are pure businessmen. It is difficult to move them with moral principles. They only accept benefits. I promised to give them priority in supplying Shu brocade in the future, so they sent the grain here."
At this time, there were officials in Chengdu who were in charge of Shu brocade. Although they were not called "brocade officials", the Shu brocade produced by the government workshops had become one of the most valuable commodities in Shu County.
Li Bing was finally able to borrow the grain after signing an official quota sales agreement for Shu brocade with the Ba family.
Forcing a county governor to do business with them shows that the Ba family’s power in the local area is so strong that they are almost like a local king.
They were very confident that this arrogance was not enough to make Qin spend a lot of effort to fight against them. This is why a strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake.
Besides, both sides made money from the deal with Li Bing, and they didn't deliberately lower the price. Li Bing just felt a little aggrieved.
Ying Xiaozheng pursed his lips: "Ba, hum... Uncle, what are you daydreaming about?"
"Ah, it's okay. I just didn't expect that Ba is so powerful." Zhu Xiang said perfunctorily.
He was thinking that the woman Qing who escorted the grain this time might be the widow Qing who later left her name in history.
Qing is not a widow yet, but because her husband is weak and sick, she manages the family property on his behalf. This time, her family sent her to Shu County, which seems to have recognized her talent.
Ying Xiaozheng said: "The Ba family is indeed powerful." It took a lot of effort for the self in the dream to deal with them.
Zhu Xiang originally thought that he and Qing had nothing in common, but he didn't expect Qing to take the initiative to visit Zhu Xiang.
Qing was not good-looking. She traveled a lot and inspected the mines at home. Her skin was rough and had some spots from the sun and rain. She wore simple clothes and did not wear any jewelry that would hinder her walking.
However, she had a resolute face and bright eyes, which made her very charming and attracted many officials to come and look at her.
Ying Xiaozheng snorted coldly: "Qingcai doesn't like them, Qing is a chaste woman!"
This sentence made Zhu Xiang's eyelids twitch. He just remembered that Qin Shihuang was the first king in history to publicly promote and praise and order women to be "chaste".
Not to mention the pre-Qin period, even before the Song Dynasty, the concept of female chastity was not so important. In the Han Dynasty, people even wanted to order all widows to marry and have children instead of remaining chaste.
Qin Shi Huang attached great importance to women's chastity because of his own mother. He built Huaiqing Terrace to praise the widow Qing as a "chaste woman". Therefore, Huaiqing Terrace is also known as "Chaste Girl Mountain" and can be regarded as the world's first "Chastity Archway".
On the Kuaiji Stone Inscription, there are some very strict regulations on female chastity promulgated by Qin Shihuang, such as "twice the penalty for being unfaithful is death" and "the son of a woman who runs away from her husband cannot have a mother".
However, these regulations were not in line with the current situation. Even though Qin Shihuang issued such an order, it was not implemented.
It was not until the Ming and Qing dynasties that the edict on chastity enacted by Emperor Qin Shihuang became prevalent in the world.
Zhu Xiang tapped Ying Xiaozheng's head gently. "You control everything in the world, and you also control other people's girls getting married? Girls from wealthy families can keep their property and of course they don't have to get married. If a poor girl's husband dies and she can't live alone, is she going to wait for death just for the sake of chastity?"
Ying Xiaozheng held his head and muttered, "Uncle, do you want my aunt to remarry?"
Li Bing sprayed the water in his mouth and almost dropped the cup on the ground.
"If I die, it will be up to Xue to decide how to live her life," Zhu Xiang said. "If she meets someone she can rely on, and the two of them grow old together, as long as Xue lives a happy life, I will bless her."
Li Bing covered his mouth and coughed hard.
Ying Xiaozheng's expression changed several times, and he said angrily: "With me here, aunt doesn't need to rely on others!"
Zhu Xiang didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "What if I didn't have you and I didn't leave Zhao and become a noble?"
Ying Xiaozheng angrily punched Zhu Xiang with his chubby little fist, then turned and ran away.
Li Bing covered his mouth and coughed hard: "Why are you telling him this?"
Zhu Xiang said confidently: "Zheng'er asked me first."
Li Bing asked, "If he asks you, you have to answer?"
Zhu Xiang said: "Of course."
Li Bing really didn't know how to answer.
Sometimes he felt that Zhu Xiang and Gongzi Zheng did not look like father and son, but more like brothers or friends.
"If your wife knew what you said today..." Li Bing said maliciously.
Zhu Xiang said very cleanly: "She might just slap me."
Li Bing: "… Madam Ling is very capable."
Unexpectedly, Zhu Xiang is henpecked.
After that, Ying Xiaozheng never mentioned the issue of whether a woman was chaste or not again.
It doesn't matter if he mentions it, Qin Shihuang has engraved a stone tablet, and no one in the world pays attention to him. Now Ying Xiaozheng doesn't need to transfer his beautiful expectations for his mother to Qing. His aunt is still there, so he can build Huaiqingtai for Qing.
Zhu Xiang felt that Huaiqing Terrace might be gone, but Huai Uncle and Auntie Terrace might appear. He hoped that Zheng'er would not be too obsessed with construction.
Zhu Xiang felt that this matter was very important, and before going to bed he specifically reminded Ying Xiaozheng not to conscript corvée labor to build any monuments, memorial platforms, or memorial palaces for him and Xue after they passed away.
Ying Xiaozheng gave Zhu Xiang an indescribable look, pulled up the quilt, and didn't want to pay any attention to his puzzled uncle.
The Qing incident was just a small episode.
Qing came to pay a visit to Zhu Xiang. Besides admiring his reputation, he also wanted to ask Zhu Xiang for some potato seeds that were said to have a high yield.
Zhu Xiang told her that the potatoes had been planted and that if she wanted to buy them, she could go find the farmers herself. But he hoped that Qing would exchange them for grain instead of buying them from merchants at high prices, otherwise the merchants might rob the farmers of their life-saving rations.
"This is Shu County, not Ba County. If you dare to do such a thing, I will execute you in Shu County according to the law." Zhu Xiang said sternly.
Qing said quickly: "I will never do such a thing! I will also restrain my family members from doing such a thing!"
Zhu Xiang said: "It's good that you know the limits."
He thought for a moment and said, "Both Shu and Ba are counties of Qin. I hope you will always know your limits."
Zhu Xiang knew that Ba Shi was forcing the governor of Shu County so hard, and he must have known that Li Bing was dissatisfied with them. Zhu Xiang was very smart and should know what he meant by "measure".
If Qing continued to expand her military forces after taking power at home, so that Ba County only knew about a female warlord named Widow Qing and not the king of Qin, then her family would once again fall from grace under the generous rewards of Qin Shihuang.
Zhu Xiang's kindness towards Qing came from his curiosity about historical figures.
As for whether Qing could listen to it or not, he didn't care.
Qing continued to do business. Although he invited Zhu Xiang to dinner several times, Zhu Xiang simply ignored him.
Now that the harvest is imminent and the plague has not been completely controlled, Zhu Xiang has a lot of things to do and has no time to drink and chat with the wealthy merchants.
Li Bing rested for a few days and then took up the heavy responsibility of being the governor of Shu County again.
He took over the burden of controlling the plague and handed over the responsibility of directing the harvest to Zhu Xiang.
He also arranged for new officials to be in charge of tax collection and not let Zhu Xiang get involved. This was not because Li Bing was worried that Zhu Xiang would have too much power, but because he was considerate of his friend.
When he learned about some of the "cruel and heartless" things Zhu Xiang had done, he felt very regretful.
Before Li Bing left, he thought Zhu Xiang would at most instruct the farmers to resume farming. If he was an ordinary county governor, this would be enough.
He didn't expect Zhu Xiang to think so much and do so much. Zhu Xiang's orders allowed many civilians who he had given up to survive. But these orders were contrary to Zhu Xiang's temperament. Although Zhu Xiang said not to mind, he was still upset about it.
However, Li Bing did not tell Zhu Xiang these words. He pretended to know nothing and took over all the work that might embarrass Zhu Xiang very naturally, and faced the angry curses of those who gave up in order to save more people.
When the harvest of beans and potatoes was good, the plague was finally under control. Diseases that could be cured with a vaccine in later generations were incurable in this era. Within a few months, all the sick people trapped in the village died, the chain of infection was completely cut off, and the large-scale plague in Shu County disappeared.
Sporadic plagues will continue to exist with the lives of every generation of farmers and do not require special measures from the government to control them.
Although the first month of the Qin State was still January, October was the New Year.
It happened to be a good harvest season, and in order to boost the morale of the common people, Li Bing specially organized a large-scale New Year's sacrifice.
Among the people, farmers also gathered together to celebrate the harvest.
They didn't have much food, and the Qin State didn't give them a tax break because of the flood, but they still happily beat gongs and drums, sang folk songs in the local dialect, and rejoiced over the good harvest.
Zhu Xiang changed into a rare silk dress, tied his hair up with a jade hairpin, and went to watch the sacrificial performance while holding his furry nephew, who was dressed very festively.
The furs on Ying Xiaozheng's body were all taken by the restless Li Mu, and they were all animals that people in later generations said would be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Ying Xiaozheng's figure is originally round and cute, and after wearing a fluffy outfit, he completely turned into a fluffy ball.
Li Mu, who also came to participate in the New Year's sacrifice, threw the plush ball to Ying Xiaozheng and caught it again, showing a rare playful mood.
The calm Li Bing couldn't help himself and held the plush ball Ying Xiaozheng in his arms and rubbed it for a long time.
Ying Xiaozheng had a wooden face.
He had already accepted his fate. Before he grew up, his uncle's friends probably wouldn't give him the basic respect of Master Qin.
"Zheng'er, there is maltose over there, do you want to eat some?" Zhu Xiang seemed even more excited than Ying Xiaozheng.
This was Zhu Xiang's first time to attend a real sacrificial ceremony.
When in Handan, the State of Zhao had no time to hold a celebration because of the death of King Huiwen of Zhao and the continuous wars. Even if it was held, Zhu Xiang was reluctant to go, fearing that he would meet the nobles and cause trouble.
The atmosphere in Xianyang was rather depressing. The King of Qin did not like noisy celebrations among the people. The people of Qin were working hard on farming and did not dare to have any entertainment activities.
Shu County was a place where the sky was high and the King of Qin was far away, and Chengdu City was very prosperous. This was Zhu Xiang's first time to visit an ancient sacrificial ceremony.
This celebration was much quieter than when Zhu Xiang visited the scenic spot.
The celebrations in the scenic area include stilt walking, dragon and lion dances, yangko teams, etc., which were not available in that era.
After paper became popular in later generations, colored paper could add a lot of color to celebrations and performances. Now all clothing had to be made of cloth, which ordinary people could not afford.
The celebration performances at this time mostly involve holding torches or making various small monsters of unknown animals out of grass and waving them.
The primitive religious worship of Shu County still exists. People wearing strange wooden masks dancing around the fire is also an important part of the celebration.
Several children were frightened and cried by the "wizard" wearing a strange wooden mask. Zhu Xiang teased Ying Xiaozheng, who not only did not cry, but also asked for a very fierce mask to wear on his face.
Zhu Xiang sighed, "Alas, Zheng'er is too mature and steady, which makes uncle less interesting."
Ying Xiaozheng tapped his uncle's head gently as if it were a drum.
Listen to what you are saying, uncle, do you enjoy seeing me cry from fear
Zhu Xiang smiled and said, "You don't eat maltose, but there are corn cakes there, do you want some?"
Ying Xiaozheng, who was wearing a mask, said in a muffled voice: "Uncle, didn't you say that the food outside is not clean and it is easy to get diarrhea if you eat it?"
Zhu Xiang said, "It's indeed easy, but it's rare to visit a festival, the worst that can happen is to go back and take medicine. Do you want to take it?"
Ying Xiaozheng hesitated for a moment and decided to ask his uncle to buy him some malt sugar.
Zhu Xiang was speechless. His own son, Zheng, had already acquired Party A's bad habits at a young age. He changed several versions, "he wanted the first version", right
However, Zhu Xiang still carried Ying Xiaozheng back to the maltose stall and bought him a stick of maltose.
While the vendor was stirring the sugar, Zhu Xiang put Ying Xiaozheng on the ground, squatted on the ground and asked curiously: "Is this really made of malt? Is there still malt at this time? I don't think wheat is often grown in Shu."
The man said, "My family grows wheat, the kind that can survive the winter. Changping Jun found it in Zhao State. It's called winter wheat."
Lord Changping Zhu Xiang said: "Winter wheat has existed in the Central Plains for a long time. Lord Changping did not find it."
The man said proudly, "Don't talk nonsense, it's Lord Changping! My family is related to the State of Zhao. I am a businessman and will transport Shu brocade to the State of Zhao to sell."
Zhu Xiang was surprised and said, "Going to Zhao State? The journey is so long, you are really amazing."
The man said, "Once a year, the money earned is better than farming. But the land still needs to be farmed. Qin law is strict. If you don't farm, you will be executed. I heard that in Guandong, ordinary people no longer dare to do business. Only nobles can send people to do business. Alas, I wonder if Shu County will be like this in the future."
Ying Xiaozheng, who was wearing a mask, asked: "Trading is not a proper job, it is better to farm."
The man smiled bitterly: "But if you only farm, you will starve to death. You see, if I only farm, how would I know that Zhao State has winter wheat?"
He talked about growing winter wheat. He wanted to promote winter wheat in his hometown. When the wheat matured, he would distribute the seeds to the villagers.
During the celebration, he was very extravagant and took some wheat malt, made malt sugar with corn, and sold it at the celebration to make some money, so that he could buy some Shu brocade to take back to his wife and daughter.
Sugar is very expensive, even if it is maltose, if he sells this jar, it will be enough for him to buy several feet of Shu brocade.
Zhu Xiang asked, "Where is your home? I know how to grow winter wheat and I can come and teach you."
The man laughed and said, "You don't even know that winter wheat was discovered by Lord Changping, and you know how to plant it?"
Zhu Xiang pulled the corner of his mouth: "It's really not Lord Changping... By the way, how is Zhao State now?"
He hadn't heard any news from Zhao State for a long time.
The man asked, "Zhao? What?"
Zhu Xiang said, "I heard before that Handan seemed to be in a bit of chaos? Even Lord Pingyuan was locked up."
The man said, "How long ago was that? Lord Pingyuan asked Lord Xinling for help, and now the rebellion has been quelled."
Zhu Xiang said: "Is that so? That's good."
I guess Lord Pingyuan and Lord Pingyang are safe now? That's great.
Zhu Xiang stopped asking about the State of Zhao. After asking for the man's address, he took Ying Xiaozheng, who was eating malt sugar, away and continued to visit the celebration.
Ying Xiaozheng lifted his mask and chewed the sticky maltose with disdain: "It tastes terrible."
Zhu Xiang laughed: "Then you are still enjoying your meal."
Ying Xiaozheng licked the maltose on his teeth with his tongue: "It's a bit sour and not delicious. It's not as delicious as the candy made by my uncle."
Zhu Xiang asked, "Then you won't eat it?"
Ying Xiaozheng strode forward with a stick of maltose in his mouth.
But his legs were so short that no matter how big his steps were, he could not reach half a step of Zhu Xiang.
Zhu Xiang protected the short Ying Xiaozheng in the crowd, and the uncle and nephew shuttled among the dense crowd of the celebration.
"Zheng'er, there are too many people here. Your uncle will hold you in his arms."
"Wait until I finish my candy."
"It's okay, you can eat while sitting on your uncle's shoulders."
"Sugar will stick to uncle's hair."
"Just go back and wash it off."
"don't want."
Ying Xiaozheng tried hard to eat the candy, licked his lips, and then reached out to Zhu Xiang.
Zhu Xiang once again carried Ying Xiaozheng on his shoulders and continued to stroll around the celebration.
"Uncle, there's someone dancing with torches over there again!"
"Okay, let's go and see."
Zhu Xiang looked at the happy expressions on the faces of the people around him and couldn't help but smile from the bottom of his heart.
Even though there were floods and plagues this year and many people died, the living people can still face the next New Year with smiles on their faces.
(End of this chapter)