Great Wei Nengchen

"Everyone, please come in quickly, Chai Fei's shabby room, it's rare to have a distinguished guest here today!"

The old man was very hospitable, after hearing what everyone was coming for, he immediately opened the wooden fence and invited everyone in, he probably also noticed that these people not only had horses and carriages, but also women's family members and children, they must not be evil people, so they are very happy Be assured!

The small courtyard was simple, and there was no difference between the inside and the outside of the house. They simply took soft couches from the carriage and sat on the floor. The cart was equipped with a small red clay stove and an exquisite small iron pot. They also asked the old man for dry firewood and fresh water to put Serve the tea leaves, boil them over a low heat, and soon there will be bursts of tea fragrance~~~

On the other side, Xiao Bin and Cao Xing set up a simple marching stove and grilled their prey. There were three sharpshooters in the small tour group, and they bent their bows and hunted along the way. There was no shortage of all kinds of game!

"May I ask the old man's name? What kind of place is this place?" After the fragrant tea was brewed, Xiao Yi offered a toast to the old man first, and then handed it over to Chen Gong and the others one by one. He looked like a boy!

"Don't dare, the little old man's name is Liu Xi, and the word is 'innocent'. As for this place, it is the 'Haihun Pavilion' under the rule of Guangling County!"

Everyone couldn't help being a little surprised that an old man in a fishing village could use ancient rituals that nobles only understood, and he had names and characters. Four' is called a lifetime, and the name is a luxury only for nobles!

For example, Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, whose real name is Liu Ji, has two older brothers, one named Liu Bo and the other named Liu Zhong. They are not official names, but they are ranked according to the ancient "Bo, Zhong, Shu, Ji". It’s just a title, which translates into vernacular as, ‘Boss Liu, Second Brother Liu, Xiaosi Liu’. It wasn’t until he became a ‘Pei Gong’ and made a name for himself that Liu Xiaosi changed his name to Liu Bang’s...

"Haihun?... Surnamed Liu?" Chen Gong is knowledgeable and talented. He has stayed in Xuzhou for more than half a year, and he has some understanding of the local situation.

Xiao Yi took the opportunity to look at the small fisherman's courtyard. There were four dilapidated thatched cottages that could barely shelter the wind and rain. There was a wooden pole in the yard with some salted fish hanging on it. Silk thread, it seems that old man Liu Xi was mending fishing nets...

There are also two large rusty iron pots on the ground, covered with salt grains, which can be seen to be used for boiling salt, but the seawater is very corrosive, and the smelting technology is backward in this era. It has to be replaced once a month, and the cost of boiling salt can be described as high!

There are still a lot of dry firewood, dead grass, and leaves piled up at the foot of the small courtyard. Anyway, it seems that all the things that can burn have been collected. This is not surprising. Cooking sea and salt will inevitably require a lot of firewood. , the trees on the seaside have probably been cut down long ago, and even the dead grass has to be collected. No wonder there is not only a little green along the way?

To sum up, this is the most typical fisherman family. They live by fishing and boiling salt. It is reasonable to say that salt is a scarce commodity. If it is sold, it will make a lot of profit, which is enough to meet the food and clothing needs of an ordinary family. , shouldn't their life be so poor?

While they were talking, a young man came out of the house. He was 25 or [-] years old, and he was very burly, but his left leg was wrapped in white linen, and there were spots of blood oozing out. Holding a harpoon, he was looking at everyone with vigilance!

The first thing the youth saw was Xiaobin and Cao Xing, because they were the only ones carrying bows and arrows and weapons, and the other was the small marching stove where the two were grilling their prey. It was only made of a few sticks, but it was very strong. Well, anyone with a discerning eye knows that only those in the army know how to do this, so the young man can't help but grip his harpoon tightly, feeling a little vigilant!

When he saw Chen Gong and Lu Ling'er, one of them was kind-hearted, the other innocent, which reassured the young man a little. As for Diao Chan, he was taken aback for a moment. Obviously, he did not expect that a beautiful woman who turned into a celestial being would do so. Appeared in their remote small fishing village~~

Fortunately, the willpower of the young man is quite firm. Although he looked at Diao Chan a few more times, he still turned his eyes away and turned to the last person, a man dressed in a coarse cloth shirt and holding a horsewhip, completely dressed as a driving boy!

"Shock! ... Fear! ... Confused!"

Three kinds of strong emotions flashed in the young man's eyes one after another. He looked like he had seen a ghost. He opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. Finally, he sat down in the yard in a daze, staring at everyone in a daze, as if What are you thinking about~~

"Don't blame everyone, the child is injured and always suspicious, maybe he was frightened on the battlefield!" The old man Liu Xi signaled everyone not to blame, and at the same time he was a little curious about his son's behavior!

"It's okay, it's okay, let's have a cup of tea together!" Naturally, everyone didn't blame anything, and instead gave the crippled young man a cup of tea!

After some conversations, everyone had a general understanding of this family. The old man Liu Xi is 50 years old this year. His wife has passed away for several years. There are three sons and one daughter in the family. The lame girl is his daughter, named Liu Yuer, the injured lame young man is the eldest son of the old man, named Liu Hu, and the other two sons are named Liu Biao and Liu Bao!

Ordinary people often use the words 'dragon, tiger, biao, and leopard' to show their might and strength when they give orders to their sons. However, there are tigers, biaos, and leopards here, but the word 'dragon' is missing, which seems a bit strange!

Speaking of the eldest son, the old man looked proud. It turned out that Liu Long had been a soldier, or a small official like a brigade leader. He had seen the big world, and he was considered an extraordinary figure in a remote small fishing village!

However, some time ago during the battle of Xiaoguan, this Liu Long was unlucky. When he attacked the city, he took an arrow in his thigh and was captured and captured. Fortunately, that "ghost-faced Xiao Lang" was kind and did not kill him, and returned it to the prisoners. The wounded were treated, travel expenses were paid, and they were all sent home!

"Xiaoguan battle..., captive?" Xiao Yi, who was sipping tea, didn't raise his head, but his ears twitched slightly, as if he understood something, "It turned out to be a fish that slipped through the net!"

528. Chapter 528 There are three sufferings in Guangling County

The wild game is roasted and sprinkled with good spices. It smells meaty and fragrant, and paired with a gourd of strong spirits, it is definitely a rare and delicious meal for ordinary fishermen!

Xiao Yi generously invited the old man Liu's family to have a meal together, and specially tore one of the fattest rabbit hind legs for Liu Yu'er. Seeing the little girl gobbling it up with a mouth full of greasy food, you can tell that they haven't eaten meat for a long time !

In the eyes of outsiders, fishermen make a living by fishing, and they seem to have no shortage of meat. In fact, it is not the case, as it is said in the play: "Those who sell mats sleep on bare beds, those who sell illegal salt drink light soup, and those who fish all day long eat nothing." I can't eat the fish head! '

First of all, the fishing technology in this era is very backward, and the boats are small and the nets are rough. It usually takes three days to fish and two days to mend the nets. Moreover, it is extremely dangerous to be adrift in the sea. When a wave comes, the boat may be destroyed. Therefore, many people refer to fishing in the sea as "exchanging human flesh for fish meat". It means that people eat fish and fish eat people. The two are almost interchangeable!

Secondly, even the fish caught at risk are not all owned by the fishermen. The government has to levy a "salted fish tax". As for the quantity, it is naturally up to the officials. A little bit of harvest has to be sold in the market, in exchange for iron pots, rice noodles, cloth, etc. The necessities of life, the most hateful thing is that when selling fish, they have to be exploited by profiteers, and the rest Of course there are even fewer!

"Old man ~ wins the drink!"

"Prestige guest ~ wins the drink!"

After a few bowls of wine, the relationship between the two parties was immediately brought closer, and Xiao Yi took the opportunity to talk about homework, "The ancients said: relying on the mountains to eat the mountains, relying on the sea to eat the sea, fishing and cooking salt is the job of a fisherman, I think The old man has a vicissitudes of life, his hands are callused, and he is also a hardworking person, why did he live such a miserable life?"

"Hey, it's hard to say!"

The old man drank the wine in the bowl, moaned, and stretched out his hands, which were not only covered with calluses, but also had deep corrosion marks, which were the result of being soaked in seawater for many years. All the nails fell off and turned into yellow-black sarcoma!

"The old man worked hard all his life. He got up at five o'clock, climbed in the middle of the night, fished, boiled salt, chopped firewood, weaved nets, and farmed... He never slacked off for a day. The children were all good, even the youngest Jade The son knows to help the family, but it is still difficult to cover his stomach throughout the year. In a disaster year, he will even starve to death. The old man originally had five sons and three daughters, but now, only half of them are left~~ "

"The old man slowly said that the suffering of the people has always been like this. At least Guangling County is still peaceful. The inland of the Central Plains is full of wars and disasters. There are no chickens crowing for thousands of miles, and the bones are exposed in the wild. That is really miserable!"

Xiao Yi poured another bowl of wine for the old man, and Xiao Hei also showed a dejected look on his face. At the end of the Han Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, and the population dropped sharply. War, plague, and hunger were the three main reasons. Like three demons with their mouths wide open, they are constantly devouring the vitality of the Huaxia clan!

"It makes sense, I just saw that my brother is someone who has traveled far and wide and seen the world!" The old man Liu Xi liked Xiao Yi very much, and he chatted with him the most among all the people.

As for the others, Chen Gong had a bookish look on his face, and he didn't dare to offend easily. Diao Chan was a girl, so it was inconvenient to talk to them. The smell of iron and blood doesn't look like kindness, so only this little guy with a small black face and a riding whip is the most down-to-earth and the most talkative!

"People in the world say that Xuzhou is the richest in the world, and Guangling County is also the richest in Xuzhou. This is true, but they only know one thing and not the other. Those who are rich are the rich, and it is us ordinary people who are suffering! "

The old man's eloquence was good, his words were well-founded, and he seemed to know some words. He stretched out three fingers and said one by one, "There are three sufferings in Guangling County: wasteland, sea breeze, and salt tiger!"

"Let's talk about this wasteland first. Guangling is located on the coast and is eroded by sea water every year. The land is so salinized that almost no grass can grow. When the old man was young, one mu of fertile land here could produce five or six buckets of grain. But up to now, the yield is only less than three buckets, and it is still declining every year, while the seeds per mu are more than one bucket, and ten seedlings and nine die, almost to the point of vain farming!

The second is the sea breeze, the sea is like a king, moody, and now it looks calm and peaceful, but when the wind blows, the waves are raging, and the coastal areas suffer from it, flooding houses and countless acres, especially where the wind blows, the houses collapse. collapsed, people and animals were destroyed, so the people along the coast are not willing to build houses, and the repairs are in vain, so they simply live in grass sheds~~”

The old man kept talking, and Xiao Yi listened quietly, neither nodding nor shaking his head. In fact, the wasteland and the sea breeze were all in his expectation. From ancient times to the present, these are two major disasters that have afflicted the people along the coast. Even after 2000, the Meteorological Observatory always issued forecasts of strong winds making landfall. There was no good way for everyone except to hide in the house and not go out!

However, the Taizu of the Red Dynasty said, "It is infinitely fun to fight against the sky, and it is endless to fight against the earth..." There is no way to control the wasteland and sea breeze.

To control the saline-alkali land, the best way is to attract a large amount of river water to scour the fields and take away all the saline-alkaline minerals. Once a year, it will be a small success in three years, and a big success in ten years. By then, the wasteland by the sea will be as changeable as possible. It is definitely not a problem for the common people to feed their stomachs with fertile land with a yield of more than one stone per mu.

However, this requires digging several large channels in Guangling County to attract the water from Yi and Si. The manpower, material resources, and financial resources that need to be invested in it are all astronomical. I am afraid that the entire Xuzhou must be mobilized. Only Xuzhou Mu has power and courage!

As for the sea breeze, half natural disaster, half man-made, Guangling County was under the jurisdiction of Wu State in the early Western Han Dynasty. At that time, Wu Wang Liu Bi was a man with a lot of means. He recruited a large number of refugees, boiled sea salt, and obtained rich income from it Profit, its financial strength, even surpassed the central government of the Western Han Dynasty at that time, which was also an important reliance for him to launch the rebellion later. If you have money, you will be willful!

Later, although Liu Bi, the king of Wu, was defeated, the production method of "boiling sea and salt" was preserved, and the scale was expanding day by day. In the period of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, salt and iron monopoly was implemented, and an official to manage sea salt was set up. Its importance It can be seen that it is average!

However, boiling salt requires fire and fuel. In the past few hundred years, the trees in Guangling County have been cut down, countless mountains have been shaved, and even the grass has been cut and dried. After burning the fire, without the shelter of these trees, the hurricane will naturally run rampant after it lands. If you want to go there, go there. Not only Guangling County, but all parts of Xuzhou have suffered from it. It is no wonder that the houses of the people do not collapse!

"It seems that the people in Xuzhou have to have more children and plant more trees in the future!"

Xiao Yi quickly set himself a policy goal. If he wanted to restore the population, he had to have more children. This is not difficult. Chinese people are famous for their strong reproductive ability. Cut down on some entertainment items, and if there is nothing to do after dark, they will naturally have children happily, but planting trees and forests will be a lot more troublesome. At that time, they will have to pretend to be gods and play tricks!

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"Dare to ask the old man, what is the reason for this 'salt tiger'? 'Salt and iron monopoly' is a national policy appointed by Emperor Xiaowu, and there is also a special salt and iron official in the imperial court. Could it be that there are still people who dare to do it?" Xiao Yishen You know, boiling salt and iron smelting are the two major economic lifelines of this era. To put it bluntly, whoever controls salt and iron controls half of the country!

"The monopoly of salt and iron is true, and there is a law in the country that a stone of sea salt can be discounted at 800 renminbi, which is eight times the price of corn. If this is true, we fishermen can live comfortably even if we live in wasteland and face strong winds. It's a pity that the sky of Guangling County is not the sky of the big man!

Merchants are exploiting layer by layer, let alone 800 yuan for a stone of sea salt, it is difficult to get 200 yuan, and look, what kind of money do they pay the old man? "

While talking, the old man Liu Xi took out a cloth bag from his bosom, and poured out more than a dozen five-bead coins commonly used in the Han Dynasty. All bad money!