At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

As the last guardians, they are the existences that put an end to the spirit of this troubled world.

Of course, there is also a little guilt in Guo Peng's heart.

Every year after that, Guo Peng will climb Shouyang Mountain on the day when the spring flowers bloom, bring some drinks and offerings, go up and sit for a long time, and then come down.

His life began to be simple, but not meaningless.

The Little Ice Age has officially come. Spring comes later and winter comes earlier. The zero-degree isotherm begins to slowly move south, and the world's average temperature begins to drop gradually.

Every time the average temperature drops by one degree, it may be a drop of five or six degrees in different areas on the ground, and the impact is very large.

Snow fell every year on the Mozhou prairie. Although the imperial court had made preparations, it was inevitable that many cattle, sheep and horses would freeze to death.

The grain yield per mu in the Western Regions, Liangzhou, Youzhou, and Bingzhou and Pingzhou has been declining for several years.

By the 15th year of Xingyuan, the grain yield per mu in these states had dropped by about 5.00% to [-]%, and the grain production decreased quite significantly.

However, the grain output in Hebei, and even the entire Guanzhong and Central Plains regions cannot generally maintain the same high growth rate as before, and even in some years, the grain output has been reduced due to the extreme cold.

The widespread crisis of food production reduction broke out, but the people of the Wei Empire did not feel that their lives had changed much and that there were many crises.

On paper, the food production crisis has indeed broken out, but in reality, people do not feel that their quality of life has declined.

The root of it lies in Guo Peng's series of early responses to this disaster.

The Grand Canal, the development of Jiangnan and Lingnan, large-scale immigration to Jiangnan and Lingnan, etc., constantly ensured the storage of grain in all parts of Jiangbei, developed and constructed Jiangnan and Lingnan, and transferred the wealthy population to Jiangnan and Lingnan on a large scale.

From the book point of view, in the sixth year of Yande, the population of Jiangnan accounted for about 15% of the total population of the Wei Empire, and by the [-]th year of Xingyuan, the total population of Jiangnan accounted for about [-]% of the total population of the Wei Empire.

Fewer people in Jiangbei eat food.

The number of people producing grain in the south of the Yangtze River has increased.

At this moment, the total population of the Wei Empire has exceeded 9000 million.

According to the census in the 15th year of Xingyuan, the total population of the Wei Empire was 200 million, and the population growth was very obvious.

In this context, through the Grand Canal, shipping and other methods, the Wei Empire continued to transfer surplus grain from Jiangnan and Lingnan to Hebei and even Liaodong to stabilize local grain prices and ensure stable food demand of the people, while continuing to promote the migration of the population to the south. policy.

Shift more population to Shuzhong and Honghe Plain, and intensify efforts to develop these areas with fertile soil and warm and humid climate that are very suitable for agricultural development.

Soon, the grain of Lingnan also became the main source of foreign grain in Liaodong. The two places, the south and the north, rely on shipping and grain to closely link their respective destinies.

Xiao Binghe did come, but the Wei Empire did not encounter the terrifying crisis and large-scale famine as expected, and even the population was still rising against the trend.

When discussing this matter, the imperial court all attributed the credit to the Grand Canal and the policy of developing Jiangnan and Lingnan.

The Western Regions are still in their hands, and Mozhou is still in their hands. On the deserts and grasslands covered by heavy snow, the imperial cavalry and merchants are struggling to move forward.

Because of the long-term advancement of the plowing hole sweeping strategy, under the heavy snow cover, there was no crisis in the desert and grassland after all, and there were no unexpected tribes taking advantage of the rise to seize the living space or invade the south.

In this way, the people of the Wei Empire have indeed not heard of the invasion of the northern captives from the south for many years.

Relevant records can only be seen in history classes. In the pre-Han period, the northern grassland tribes often went south to kowtow, causing huge losses to the people on the frontier.

On the other hand, today, there are no nomadic cavalry soldiers on the Mozhou prairie that Guo Peng controlled at a huge cost.

Guo Peng built water conservancy, cleaned up the river, and eliminated many hidden dangers of floods and droughts.

Going deep into the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River to eradicate locusts has greatly reduced the frequency of locust plagues and the number of locusts. Some prefectures and counties along the Yellow River have not seen locusts for several years, even if the rain was not abundant.

Guo Peng called on the public to live a healthy and hygienic life on a large scale, and made the concept of isolation deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. As a result, local prefectures and counties have not reported cases of infectious disease outbreaks for several years.

All of these, the dividends accumulated from the changes Guo Peng brought to the Wei Empire during his 13 years in power have benefited the people of Guo Jin's era inexhaustibly.

This has undoubtedly made Guo Peng, who has not asked about political affairs for a long time, gained wave after wave of popularity.

With the accumulation of prestige after wave after wave, the Supreme Emperor Guo Peng became more and more like a god, not a human being.

All the crises were foreseen by him, and all the crises were passed without any danger under his prior preparation, and the situation of the Wei Empire was as stable as Mount Tai.

He is not God, what is he?

But he is really just a man, not a god, nor does he want to be a god.

Still, if Wei needs him to be a god, he will be that god.

It is better to believe in him than to believe in some greedy and bloodthirsty monster.

Chapter 1639 One thousand five hundred and fifty-eight Guo Peng himself seems to have some hunch

Guo Jin's currency reform was successful, and new gold, silver and copper coins replaced the five baht coins and became the official currency of the Wei Empire.

The bust of Guo Peng is engraved on the surface of the three coins, so the folks affectionately call this new coin "Taihuang Coin", and they are happy to use this coin.

The promotion of new coins and the recycling of old coins have not received much resistance from the people, and the implementation has continued smoothly.

A few years later, the currency reform was successful, and around Xingyuan 17 years ago, there was no trace of five baht coins on the market.

Except for a few collectors who use this kind of five baht coins for collection, most of the five baht coins have been remade and minted into brand new coins.

Guo Jin was sitting on such a good situation, and he felt more and more deeply how far-sighted and thoughtful his father was.

The more emperor he became, the more he felt that his father was actually worthy of his worship.

He once had the idea of ​​wanting to surpass his father, but after freezing on the Huai River, this idea froze together, and then shattered into slag.

He admits that he can't surpass his father no matter what, all he can do is to take over his father's responsibilities and continue to maintain the situation left by his father, but just like this, he almost used up all his energy.

Guo Jin felt more and more that what Guo Peng said to him when he first took the throne was true.

As long as he can maintain this situation, he is a qualified emperor worthy of praise. As for the future of the Wei Empire, will it be destroyed or something... How could he dare to pursue more?

It was his father, who spent several years in the Ministry of Agriculture and the Faculty of Education.

He urged the Ministry of Agriculture to continuously improve agricultural tools, invent new agricultural tools, work hard on fertilizer manufacturing technology, improve fertilizer manufacturing technology, and then sent people to the countryside to instruct farmers to cultivate the land scientifically.

After discussing with Guo Jin, Guo Jin stipulated that every official of the Ministry of Agriculture must have three years of experience in going to the countryside in order to be promoted.

As a result, more officials with the most advanced agricultural production technology are required to go to more remote areas to guide agricultural production and accumulate practical experience.

Under such a situation, with the weather getting colder and colder, the grain output of the Wei Empire was still maintained at a fairly stable level, and there was no obvious decline.

As for the department, it is much simpler, that is, to build more county schools, and to promote the officials of the department to go to various county schools to become teachers, and also set a minimum three-year teaching experience limit.

Guo Peng has repeatedly proposed to strive to establish a county school in every county, and to attract as many students as possible to the county school.

Insist on reducing or exempting tuition fees and providing a lunch to attract more children from poor families to study, reduce the number of illiteracy in all aspects, and expand the audience for the imperial examinations.

Always supervising, always urging, so that the department never dared to neglect.

He did not dare to put forward higher requirements at will, but it was not impossible for him to set up county schools in every county in the country.

And this goal was finally accomplished in the autumn of the 17th year of Xingyuan, accompanied by the autumn harvest.

At the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Wei Empire, the county school popularization plan was successfully completed.

Every county in the Wei Empire has set up a county school, large or small, with more or less children enrolled.

On the day when this goal was achieved, Guo Peng was very happy and called Guo Jin to the small pavilion in the back garden of Mount Tai Temple and sat with him.

"School, I'll give it back to you from today, I don't care."

The 67-year-old Guo Peng smiled and looked at the small pond that had never changed, and said something that Guo Jin did not expect.

He has been emperor for 17 years.

In the past 17 years, he has never interfered in the affairs of the school. Guo Peng has been used to making decisions on all the affairs of the school.

Although Guo Peng actually didn't take care of anything in the next few years, the faculty still followed Guo Peng's established route, and Guo Jin did not interfere.

Suddenly Guo Peng said that he would return the department to him, and he was still a little unaccustomed to it.

For him, the department is not related to the integrity of his power and the stability of his position.

"Does father think it's time to retire?"

Guo Peng nodded.

"After the abdication, my biggest thought is to have a county school in every county in the entire Wei Kingdom, so that as many peasant children as possible can go to school and read and write, and I can feel at ease when I see such a scene. to die."

"Father!"

Guo Jin was startled and hurriedly said, "How can my father say such unlucky words? I dare not say such words!"

Guo Peng waved his hand indifferently.

"Look, I'm 67 years old. How old am I? My hair is almost all white. What hope do I have?"

With that said, Guo Peng sighed again.

"Zilong is gone, Zixiao is gone, Yunchang is gone, Zhicai is gone... Those old friends who fought the world with me, all who should go, and those who haven't, there are not many left. breathed."

Guo Peng sighed, broke off a piece of fish food in his hand, and threw it into the pond, splashing a small splash.

After the 13th year of Xingyuan, many old officials left.

In March of the 13th year of Xingyuan, Zhao Yun died of illness in his hometown Changshan.

In July of the same year, Cao Ren died of illness in his hometown in Qiao County.

Two of the old five tiger generals of the Wei Empire died of illness in the same year, and Wei Jun was saddened by them. The statues of the two were built in the Shouyang Mountain Lecture Hall. Every martial arts student who entered could witness their statues and listen to others tell their exploits.

After Zhang Fei's death, Guan Yu resigned and returned to his hometown. He died of illness in his hometown of Hedong County in April 14th Xingyuan.

Xi Zhicai became ill from overwork, resigned from office and returned to his hometown in the tenth year of Xingyuan, and died of illness in May of the 14th year of Xingyuan.

Also in the same year, Zao Zhi, who lost everything, also passed away.

A year before his death, Guo Peng also secretly met Zaozhi at the Shouyang Mountain Lecture Wutang, and told him about the past, saying that he did not blame him, but only regretted it. Zaozhi cried bitterly for this. snot.

In February of the 15th year of Xingyuan, Le Jin, who was unemployed at home, became seriously ill, and his only thought was to see Guo Peng.

The family reported it to Guo Jin, Guo Jin informed Guo Peng, so Guo Peng secretly went to Le Jin's house to meet him for the last time, holding his hand to express that he had already forgiven him, and that he had done something wrong.

On the third day after Guo Peng left, Le Jin passed away peacefully.

In the 16th year of Xingyuan, Zhang Liao fell ill in Yangzhou, and returned to Luoyang for treatment. He was unable to be cured. In June, he died in Luoyang, and Guo Peng shed tears for it.

At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Yu Jin was the only one of the five tiger generals left, and Yu Jin also retired from active duty early, and instead served as the dean of the martial arts hall in Shouyang Mountain, and took up the work of martial arts education in the Wei Empire.

The old guys who followed Guo Peng to conquer the world and rule the world died one by one. Guo Peng felt sad at first, but later, he got used to it and felt that this was an inevitable fate.

It's time for them.

He has endured hardships, suffered sins, and experienced bitterness. He has also enjoyed enormous power and honor. He has been lost and alerted. At the last moment of life, everyone has seen it.

Their attitude affects Guo Peng.

From the beginning of sadness and empathy to the final sigh, Guo Peng has been very open to death.

He is a person who has died once. Although it has been a long time, he has forgotten what it is like to die, but it is not unacceptable for him to die again.

As time passed, he also felt that the body was getting tired and energy was getting weaker and weaker.

Feeling this, Guo Peng also began to arrange his funeral.

It is said that it is to arrange the funeral, in fact, there is nothing to arrange.

That is to say, he personally wrote a will and gave it to Guo Jin, and asked Guo Jin to handle the funeral according to his own orders after his death, and not to stick to traditional etiquette.

He abdicated very early and handed over the throne to Guo Jin. Now he is just a powerless old man. Even if he dies of illness immediately, there is nothing wrong with him.

His mausoleum was repaired a long time ago, and it was built in the distant Langju Xu Mountain.

He wants to sleep there forever, and keep the northern border forever. No matter whether this grassland will get out of control or not, he will leave an excuse and necessity to send troops to the northern border when future generations can prosper again.

This prairie is by no means meaningless to China, and this vast strategic depth will provide sufficient shelter for any regime.

Therefore, after his death, his remains will be transported to the Langju Xushan Mausoleum for burial.

Only his wife and a few nobles were buried with him, and no one else would be buried as far north as him.

In order to facilitate activities such as sacrifices and ceremonies held by later emperors, Guo Peng decided to leave his own tomb at the foot of Shouyang Mountain in Luoyang, so that later kings would not have to spend a lot of time to worship their ancestors in Langju Xushan, as long as the head next to Luoyang It is enough to worship the ancestors in the Yangshan Emperor Mausoleum.

Shouyang Mountain is the place where he founded the Lecture Martial Arts Hall, and being buried here can also allow later emperors to pay attention to the Shouyang Mountain Lecture Martial Arts Hall, martial arts, and force.

The rest is really nothing.

Everything that should be done has been done, and what has not been done cannot be done, and what should be buried is buried. He will not see the day when the outbreak occurs.

The Principality of Xishu, founded by Guo Jun, is flourishing and victorious.