Hanhou

In the third year of Emperor Jing's Zhongyuan period, June

In the midsummer season, the heat wave is rolling, even in Yunzhong County, which is connected to the grassland to the north, it is still extremely hot.Walking in the sun, you will be sweating profusely in no time, as if you are covered in a steamer.

The sky was clear, there was no wind, and even the golden eagles were hidden in the barn, listless and listless.

In Zhao's livestock farm, more than 20 strong and strong men took off their jackets, lifted a large bucket of stream water, and poured it down from the top of their heads, shouting happily.

The women lifted up the new cages made by the craftsmen, picked out the steamed buns, scooped out millet and rice from the steamer, and filled them into wooden barrels half a person's height.Wei Juan took out the pottery pots containing the sauce, and Gongsun Ao and Zhao Puonu worked together to lift up the roasted fat sheep, and put them under a few elm trees according to Mrs. Sun's instructions.

The men don't need to take a cloth to wipe after showering, the water droplets on their bodies will be evaporated quickly.Looking at the scars on each other's bodies, and thinking of the dead relatives and clansmen, my heart still feels dull pain.

But the dead are gone, and the living must live on.

"It's time to eat!" Mrs. Sun tapped the clay pot with a dagger, calling everyone to eat.

Several men walked over, each holding a large bowl of millet rice, grabbed two steamed buns, and said with a smile: "My lord, didn't you say that there are new soup cakes?"

"Can't you feed yourself with buns, millet and rice?" Mrs. Sun glared at the man.

The men laughed and dispersed, and gathered under the elm tree in twos and threes, taking advantage of this rare shade to enjoy a moment of comfort.

Inside the wooden house, Zhao Jia poured the saltpeter sent by Wei Yue into a large basin, and waved his hands to his side. Several children worked together to lift a clay pot filled with water, and put it firmly in the basin.

After making sure that the pot would not tip over, Zhao Jia poured a bucket of clear water into the basin.The children shook off the water stains on their hands and squatted next to each other, their eyes fixed on the pots without blinking.

"Lang Jun, will there be ice in this way?" Wei Qing asked.

"Should." Zhao Jia was not quite sure.He just remembers the method, and has not tried it himself.When Wei Yue was asked to help find saltpeter, he also had the mentality of giving it a try.

Saltpeter is a material for making gunpowder. After the frontier army was equipped with poisonous chimneys in large quantities, its mining and storage were strictly recorded.How much saltpeter the medical craftsman had had to be reported to the official temple, and Zhao Jia had to get Wei Shang's permission to get some.If the method fails, it must be sent back as it is, and it is impossible to keep it by yourself.

"Lang Jun, it's done, it's done!"

When Zhao Jia fell into deep thought, the children all stared at the clay pot attentively. Seeing that a thin layer of ice had formed in the pot, they immediately started shouting excitedly.

"It's done?" Zhao Jia withdrew his thoughts, picked up the wooden chopsticks that were placed aside, and poked the ice surface, and found that the ice that had formed was still very thin, and could be pierced easily.

"Don't stay here, go eat first." Zhao Jia put down the wooden chopsticks, stood up, pulled up the children around the wooden basin, and said with a smile, "Put the clay pot here, so you can't run away. Wait until you finish eating." come over."

"promise."

The children followed Zhao Jia out of the wooden house, and kept turning their heads halfway, quite reluctantly.

When Mistress Sun saw Zhao Jia coming out of the wooden house, she immediately asked Zhao Puonu and Gongsun Ao to bring over steamed stuffed buns and a basket of wild fruits growing in the stream.

"Lang Jun relieves the summer heat."

Zhao Jia thanked Mrs. Sun, took a wild fruit by himself, and distributed the rest to the children and teenagers.

The wild fruit tastes extremely sour and very appetizing.

Zhao Jia frowned, finished eating the whole wild fruit, drank half a bowl of warm water, took up a bowl of millet rice, poured half a spoonful of meat sauce on it, covered it with two chopsticks, and squatted on the ground like everyone else, gulping Grilled Rice.

Wei Qing and the others wrinkled their faces, reluctant to let go of the fruit no matter how sour it was.After eating, their appetites were whetted, and they picked up the wooden bowls like Zhao Jia, and each of them ate until their stomachs swelled.

After dinner, the woman packed up the dishes and went to the stream to wash the barrel.The remaining millet drifted away along the water, attracting many small transparent fish.Ah Zhi was naughty, stepped on it with her foot, almost slipped and fell.A Gu accidentally stepped on a crab hidden in the bottom of the water and almost got his toe caught.

Zhao Ponu, who came to help, laughed loudly when he saw the child hugging his feet and screaming.Being too proud, the children were dissatisfied, and they splashed the stream water with their hands.I don't know who was mischievous, grabbed a small crab and just threw it on Zhao Puonu's face.

Zhao Ponu was not angry either, he grabbed the crab and was about to put it in his mouth.When Xin Zhao saw it, he immediately slapped him on the back of the head.

"Lang Jun said that this thing can't be eaten raw, why can't I always remember it!"

Zhao Ponu was staggered by the photograph, his hand was loosened, the crab dropped his hand, and was bitten away by a wild duck on the spot.

"Ashin, Mr. Lang also said that patting your head will make you stupid."

Xin Zhao turned his head, pretending he didn't hear, called out the child who was still in the water, picked up the cleaned wooden bucket, turned around and sent him back to the wooden house.

When the sun was no longer so strong, the young and strong men took the nets and agricultural tools from the warehouse and scattered them to the fields to guard them.As the autumn harvest approaches, there are more and more small animals and sparrows eating the grain every day. If you don't pay close attention to it, half of the grain will be lost in the blink of an eye.

They repelled the looting of the Huns, but lost their harvest because of the birds and small animals. Are they wronged?

In a war with the Xiongnu, Bianjun sent a large number of young and strong.Fortunately, there are cattle and new farm tools, which fill the shortage of labor.In addition, the weather is good throughout the year, there is no disaster or harm, and the millet in the field is growing very well. If there is no accident, it must be a bumper year.

Because the population of the two villages was halved, Zhao Jia called everyone to discuss and proposed to merge the villages and villages, move the remaining villagers to one place, and help each other to overcome this difficulty.

Everyone had no objection, and the official temple sent a young official to look at it, and then approved the merger of the villages.

The villagers worked together to widen the earthen walls and build new houses based on the original Zhao's village.Since most of the young adults, women and even children in the two villages worked in the livestock farms, for the convenience of travel, the three elders reported to the official temple to repair the dirt road leading from the village to the livestock farms during the slack season.

Generally speaking, road construction requires the order of the official temple.But the villagers started working voluntarily, and the official temple had no reason to stop it. In addition, the county would also benefit from it. Wei Taishou specially ordered someone to send several carts of grain as a reward.

In addition, considering the shortage of labor, as early as the beginning of the merging of the village, Zhao Jia proposed to replace the fields of all the people in one place, and concentrate manpower to go to the fields in turn to cultivate together.

In order to cope with large-scale operations, Zhao Jia organized craftsmen to improve the long Quyuanli.

The newly made Quyuan plow is very similar to that used in the Tang and Song Dynasties. It can be easily used by the elderly and children, regardless of young and strong women.Large-scale farming, the efficiency is improving day by day, even experienced farmers can't help but admire.

Governor Wei came from the city again when he heard about it. Seeing the scene of more than 20 people pulling cattle and pushing plow tools side by side, his eyes lit up. He patted Zhao Jia on the shoulder and laughed loudly, "Ado is very good!"

Zhao Jia gradually began to get used to this kind of compliment that was not tactful at all, and he would no longer blush after being praised a few times.

The border area is vast and sparsely populated. After the war, there was a shortage of labor force. Collecting the existing manpower, dividing labor and cooperating with each other, can maximize efficiency in a short period of time, open up as many fields as possible, raise more livestock, and let the people survive the cold winter safely. .

Sending off the prefect Wei, Zhao Jia further improved the plan, handed over the livestock farm to Uncle Hu and Uncle Xiong, and entrusted most of the affairs in the village to San Lao and Wei Qing'e, and he set aside two hours a day to teach teenagers and children how to learn calligraphy Studying, I even asked Wei Tong and Wei Shan to help, teach young children how to shoot arrows, and teach them how to fight in a large army.

With the merger of the two villages, teenagers and children from Wei's village also entered the livestock farm one after another, among them was Yunmei's younger brother Atao.

As for Atao's elder brother, when the Xiongnu attacked, he left his family and fled to Yangshou. After the Xiongnu retreated, he returned home brazenly, and was beaten out by his father with a stick.This time, even the eldest father refused to intercede for him, and even picked up a cane and slammed it on his back.

"Get lost! Don't say you are a son of the Yun family, I can't afford to lose that person!"

Atao's uncle and Zhong's father were killed in battle one after another, and several brothers were also wounded on the battlefield.In order to protect his neighbors, a brother had his arm chopped off by the Huns.

However, after the war, the Yun family still felt ashamed and felt ashamed when they went out. It was all because Atao's elder brother was greedy for life and afraid of death. He didn't dare to fight the Huns and only wanted to escape.

In the border area, even bandits, as long as they dare to fight against the Huns and gain military exploits, they will be able to stand up and be praised as a "good man".But like brother Atao, his legs were weak in front of the Huns, and he didn't even have the courage to pick up a short knife and bow.

When things got out, even the scoundrels who hang out with him on weekdays are now avoiding him like the plague.

Because of this, Wei Ling's wife confirmed with Wei Juan that her eldest son died fighting the Huns, rather than fleeing because of greed for life and fear of death.

When the young adults went down to the fields, the youngsters began to clean the sheepfolds, and the children stopped playing. They picked up rattan baskets one after another, went to the pastures to cut forage, look for wild fruits and herbs.

"This kind can stop bleeding, and this kind can dissipate heat."

Wei Qing took Atao with him and taught him the most recognizable medicinal herbs.It doesn't matter if you don't remember everything, as long as the grass you bring back is non-toxic, it can be used as feed for cattle and sheep.

"There are thorns down here, be careful!" Ah Zhi came over, stopped A Tao's hand reaching for the bush, poured out a piece of caramel from the cloth bag on his body, crushed it and distributed it to his companions.

At this moment, a dog barked suddenly from not far away.

Two big dogs, one black and one yellow, rushed out of the grass, chasing a gray figure.

"It's a hare!" Ah Zhi exclaimed excitedly.

Wei Qing asked A Tao to look at the rattan basket, and he led A Zhi and the others to chase after the hare, drawing the Yi bow while running.

"A Gu, go over there!"

"Quick, stop it!"

"Shoot the arrow, don't hurt the dog!"

The children separated and outflanked, and while spreading out, blocked all the escape routes of the hare.Wei Qing and Ah Zhi fired their bows at the same time, one arrow pierced the hare's hind legs, and the other directly nailed the prey to the ground.

Wei Qing put away his bow and arrow, and was about to harvest his prey, when Ah Gu and Ah Mai waved to him at the same time, telling him to stand still.Immediately afterwards, A Gu grabbed a stone and smashed it into the grass, and A Mai picked up a tree branch, thrust it down hard, and cheered at the same time: "Yes!"

Wei Qing and Ah Zhi ran over quickly, and found a black snake with the thickness of an arm in the grass. The snake's head had been smashed, the snake's body was stuck on the ground by a tree branch, and the snake's tail was still rolling.

"Po Nu said that this food is also delicious."

When the snake stopped moving, Wei Qing drew out his dagger, chopped the snake into several sections, and put them into the rattan baskets of several people.It's not that he doesn't want to take the whole thing away, but that the snake is too big, and it will be very laborious for one person to carry it.

Seeing the prey brought back by Wei Qing and the others, Atao was full of amazement.

"When you learn how to archery, you can join us!" Ah Zhi followed Zhao Xin's example and patted A Tao on the shoulder.Except for the one who was photographed, the rest of the children laughed, and even the two big dogs wagged their tails and barked a few times in response to the situation.

After returning to the livestock farm, Aunt Sun saw the hares and snakes brought back by the children, without saying a word, she grabbed them and slapped them one by one, even Atao was no exception.

"This is a poisonous snake!" Mrs. Sun slapped her hands and taught her a lesson, "What if I get bitten? Don't be naughty next time!"

The children held their buttocks and smiled flatteringly at Mrs. Sun.It was a success, Mrs. Sun calmed down and gave each of them a meat bun.

Zhao Puonu carried a bundle of coarse cloth, saw the scene in front of him, and thought of harvesting wild honey with Aman and others on the grassland, the smile on his face disappeared little by little.

Xin Zhao walked over, grabbed the back of Zhao Po Nu's neck, pressed his forehead hard, and said in a deep voice, "Po Nu, we swore that one day we will kill all the Xiongnu and avenge the three of you!"

Putting down the coarse cloth, Zhao Puonu didn't speak, but nodded vigorously.

At night, Zhao Jia moved the ice into the wooden house, and the heat was dissipated immediately.When the teenagers and children walked into the house, they all showed surprise when they felt the coolness blowing on their faces.

"Ji Bao, send this pot to Uncle Xiong and Uncle Hu. Tomorrow morning, send the saltpetre in the storeroom to sister." Zhao Jia sat on the ground, loosened his clothes, and while waving his fan, ordered his servants.

Ji Bao took the order to leave, Zhao Jia turned on the lights, let Zhao Xin, Wei Qing and others sit behind the sand table set up, and practice the words learned yesterday.

After confirming that several people's writing was correct, Zhao Jia picked up the wooden branch and wrote ten more characters for the teenagers and children to memorize.Then unfold the bamboo slips and begin to explain "Sun Tzu's Art of War: Yongjian Chapter"

"Sun Tzu said: Wherever an army is raised with one hundred thousand troops, it will be marched for thousands of miles. The expense of the common people, the tribute of the government, the daily expense of thousands of gold, internal and external turmoil, and laziness on the road..."

To be honest, Zhao Jia can understand the meaning and explain it to Wei Qing and others, but it is not so easy to give examples.

But it doesn't matter, he has the cheat of Mr. Wei San.

While working as a heater in the prefect's mansion, he studied the art of war with Wei Yue and heard many useful explanations and examples.Now that it is integrated into one place, there is no problem in enlightening teenagers and children.

However, Zhao Jia also knew that if they want to deepen their learning progress, they must hire teachers for them.

It's just that the people in his memory who are proficient in the art of war are either the big bosses of the border county or the generals of the army. They are either busy with government affairs every day, or they are always ready to fight with the Xiongnu. They may not have the leisure to educate these children.

Fortunately, for now, his level can handle it.When the day comes when there is nothing to teach, just think of a way.

Thinking about it carefully, Wei Qing in history was also self-taught, and he could still beat the Xiongnu all over the grassland.With such a foundation, as long as you grasp the degree well and don't talk nonsense, you will basically not mislead your children... right?

The lights in the wooden house have been burning for a long time, and the teenagers and children are full of energy to study.After Zhao Jia finished talking about the art of war, he pestered him to tell stories again.

Facing the pair of big bright eyes, Zhao Jia couldn't bear to refuse, so he could only search his brains, and even mixed up several classic battles of later generations, and told them to teenagers and children.

Zhao Jia spoke dryly, and the teenagers and children listened attentively.

After talking for half an hour, Zhao Jia stopped to drink water, and the teenagers and children began to discuss enthusiastically. Zhao Ponu and Wei Qing were the most involved. The former waved his fists and said: "Where the horses go, the army will fight." !"

Wei Qing nodded vigorously and agreed: "Anything pointed by a bow and arrow must be Han soil!"

"When the Huns are wiped out, the grassland will be ours!" A Gu echoed.

"If you can't farm, you have to raise sheep!"

Listening to this lively discussion, Zhao Jia put down the wooden bowl and was speechless for a long time.

In other words, is this considered crooked teaching?How will the history books write such a group of future generals who "open their bows as Han soil"?

After a moment of silence, Zhao Jia simply became a bachelor, as long as it was beneficial to the people of his family and country, he was free to write, and he was happy to take the blame!