"What does it smell like?" Beside the fire, Gongsun Xun took the dry-roasted pancake and resisted his thirst to drink the unboiled water from the river next to him. However, before he could swallow it, he suddenly smelled a faint smell brought by the wind.
Weird smell.
"It seems to have been brought over there. I'll go take a look." A companion sitting next to Gongsun Xun stood up and sniffed, then walked over to check it out holding a torch.
Everyone didn't care, because after all, it was brought by a strange wind, and it shouldn't hinder everyone's eating... Besides, without water, the dry-baked pancakes seemed to be more difficult and tougher.
Attract attention.
Of course, everyone has some Amway background, and they have all experienced great epidemics. Thanks to Aunt Gongsun’s years of teaching in western Liaoning, everyone can still resist drinking raw water no matter what.
Just like that, I barely ate two bites of the pancake with saliva, and the companion who went to investigate over there came back quickly, and soon he made everyone completely lose their appetite.
"It's an abandoned baby," the man's face was livid. "I held up the torch and took a quick look. The ditch was full of abandoned babies. Those who had just died, those who had been dead for many days, and those who had been gnawed by wolves and rats until only their bones were left. There were so many abandoned babies.
There are dozens.”
Abandoned babies and drowned babies are so common these days. Gongsun Xun saw it more than once in western Liaoning. Moreover, he had asked his mother about this matter very early, and the latter's answer was helpless.
Firstly, there are no birth control measures, so it is easy to get pregnant, and once pregnant, you cannot easily abort the pregnancy, you can only give birth and deal with it later; secondly, the lower class people really cannot feed so many children these days; thirdly, the government's reward and punishment system is basically
The above is already in name only; fourthly, don’t forget that there is also the typical preference for boys over girls... Therefore, this matter cannot be avoided at all.
only……
"It's nothing more than abandoned babies. It's just that there seem to be only three to four hundred households scattered about two or three miles east of here. How could there be dozens of abandoned babies anywhere?" Gongsun Xun was greatly puzzled.
"Young Master, please forgive me for my blunt words." A middle-aged disciple from Gongsun Xun's family (a dependent population with a feudal relationship with the master's family, equivalent to a slave who cannot be bought and sold) couldn't help but interjected at this time. "
My family used to flee from Qingzhou to western Liaoning, and there were also abandoned babies in Qingzhou more than ten years ago."
"Did it reach this point more than ten years ago?" Gongsun Xun was quite shocked.
"Isn't it?" the man said sincerely. "It's not that I don't want to support him, but I really can't afford to support him. The people are poor, and often a major disaster or epidemic will collapse the entire village. Then we Qingzhou people will either flee to Mount Tai.
If you fall into the trap of a thief, you either have to find a way to survive in the border counties. If it weren’t for the fact that my hometown couldn’t survive, my family wouldn’t have fled to the border areas... On the contrary, it was in western Liaoning. According to my mistress, the land was vast and sparsely populated, so the main
The oppression of the family is not very heavy, so we can feed more children. Not to mention that we have Amway in Liaoxi. The mistress will encourage the slaves in the family to adopt some abandoned babies. Many of the abandoned babies have grown up now.
Da, I have always regarded my mistress as a fairy-like figure. Therefore, it is not that the people here are too poor, but that it is actually better in western Liaoning. And Shaojun grew up there since he was a child, so naturally he does not know the situation here.
"
The so-called review of the past makes us learn the new. Putting aside the nonsense that the other party said to flatter his wife, Gongsun Xun followed these words and suddenly remembered another sentence that his wife once said - Bian County, this place, the nationality
Contradictions have effectively suppressed class contradictions. I don’t know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing?
In other words, although my mother had carefully popularized the concepts of national contradictions and class contradictions to myself, after hearing this, I was still confused and didn't understand it at all.
However, at this time, he heard that there were dozens of abandoned babies beside him. Thinking of the situation in western Liaoning, Gongsun Xun suddenly became enlightened - the same aristocratic and powerful family was not like those in the border counties.
What a high consciousness, but in the face of the strong military pressure from the Xianbei people and the uneasiness brought by the Wuhuan people by their side, the aristocratic families over there are willing to go to great lengths to maintain the local military competitiveness.
Give something away to the bottom layer.
This is the true meaning of that sentence!
But thinking about it on the other hand, the inland counties of the Han Dynasty not only had no military pressure, but also had to send a large amount of property to the border counties to maintain this situation... Yes, according to the rules of the Han Dynasty, the border areas were poor, so
The money spent over there to appease the foreigners and maintain border defenses was all sent by the inland counties.
So in this case, to what extent will the powerful families in the mainland exploit the lower class people? So many abandoned babies appeared in a ditch? They actually forced the local people to run to the border counties where their lives were in danger.
Being someone’s apprentice?!
That night, Gongsun Xun tossed and turned and could not sleep.
And just when our young man who has never seen the suffering of the people is secretly worried, what he doesn't know is that the Lulongsai cavalryman Jia Chao who was missed because he went the wrong way is destined to do something that night.
A big event is coming that shocks the village!
Let us go back in time to the previous afternoon. At that time, Jia Chao had no idea that the kind-hearted young master of the Gongsun family and the equally kind-hearted Han Dang and Han Yigong were coming to find him, let alone that these two people would come to see him later.
We got sidetracked because of a small river, and then we turned into a field in the middle of the night, and it was as cold as anything.
In fact, as the second son of the family, Jia had stayed in Lulongsai for many years without returning home. This time he brought a good horse and got two more silk horses, not to mention a lot of property that he had accumulated and been rewarded before. Jia
At that time, Chao was filled with excitement and just wanted to go home and see his mother as soon as possible.
Moreover, he is a local after all and will never go astray.
Therefore, not long after Gongsun Xun set off, Jia Chao had already crossed the countryside and crossed the pavilion, and rode his horse to the inner gate of Dashangli, Donghe Pavilion, where his home was located.
One more thing to say here is that in the Han Dynasty system, there was one township within ten miles, and one pavilion within ten miles. This sounds a bit confusing. But in fact, townships are civil affairs units, and they are discussed based on household registration. Pavilions are public security and management units, and they are discussed from the perspective of protection.
The post office and public security were discussed. In fact, both are under the direct jurisdiction of the county and are not subordinate to each other, nor do they contradict each other.
However, because the organization Ting manages the postal and inn business, and also has the function of guiding directions, it naturally has a geographical indication function. This is why we often see such-and-such pavilion and so-and-so in the address.
Of course, further down, the concept of li is undisputed. It was the most basic administrative organization in the Han Dynasty. It usually concentrated people with a certain household registration in a settlement for management, and generally set up fences, walls and
The gate was opened, and a village chief was arranged to manage it. These days, there are no villages and communities, so this village can basically be regarded as a village or a community in later generations.
According to the weekly system, there should be 72 households in one li. In the middle of the Han Dynasty, it was generally believed that there should be 100 households in one li. But in fact, the rich and poor in different places were different, and the population density was also different. In addition, the total population in the late Han Dynasty
Compared with the changes during the founding of the People's Republic of China, one mile in Julu, Jizhou at this time should have generally had more than 100 households. Moreover, it can no longer be the standard ten miles and one township.
"Who is the inner door?" Jia Chao gasped and slapped the sealed inner door helplessly. "Why is it closed in the afternoon? Open the door for me quickly."
The lijianmen was the deputy of the li chief. In fact, he was probably the lowest official in the entire Han Dynasty. In such remote countryside far away from the city, it was usually done by lonely old people who were too old to do farm work.
It gave him a way to survive.
"Who is it?" A familiar local accent immediately sounded. "The door here was closed at the order of the mayor, saying it was to prevent wolves. A few days ago, a wolf entered the Sanmali opposite and took two away.
sheep……"
"Prisoner Zheng, it's me. I'm Jia Chao, who lives in Jia's house at the east end of Dashangshu." As he spoke, Jia Chao could already hear the voice of the prisoner in the prison. The local accent had not changed, so he was instantly relieved.
A little bit happy.
"Jia Chao from the east end of the big mulberry tree?!" The prison door opened and he was shocked. "Oh, it's really you, leading the horse and carrying so many things. Is this fine silk? You are
Did you receive the letter? I heard it was snowing in the north, so we all thought we had to wait a little longer."
"What are you waiting for?" Jia Chao was puzzled. However, he was homesick and too lazy to talk nonsense with this old man named Zheng, so he directly led his horse and hurried towards his home.
"Oh, it's a good thing that Jia Chao comes back with money, but it's not necessarily a good thing that he comes back with a lot of money..." The prison gate is already old and he can't help but ramble, but he can't say anything.
Continuing talking, he just closed the back door from the inside again, and then went back to his hut to hide from the wind and keep warm.
On a winter afternoon, many villagers were basking in the sun in a sheltered place. Jia Chao was eager to go home. He just nodded slightly when he passed by. However, he had not come back for several years. He led the horse again and put silk silk on it. These villagers
He wanted to recognize him, but he didn't dare to recognize him for a while. It wasn't until he stopped at the door of his house that he remembered who this person was.
It's just that at this time, it's not easy to bother anymore.
"Brother, big brother!" Jia Chao was so happy at the door of his house that he almost wanted to push the door open directly. However, when he thought about leaving, he would find that the broken door of his house was broken by his own palm, so he had no choice but to restrain himself and gently smash the broken door.
board.
"Second brother, could it be that the second brother is back? So soon?" A response came immediately from the courtyard, which happened to be the voice of the eldest brother Jia Ping.
"I don't know if I brought any money..." At this time, a somewhat unfamiliar, but still identifiable, plaintive female voice sounded next to her. She seemed to be the sister-in-law that Jia Chao's eldest brother had begged for not long before he left home.
It is said that before she got married, this sister-in-law was a well-known pretty girl in the neighboring village of Dahuang. She just fell in love with her eldest brother Jia Ping, who could endure hardships and know how to farm. Then her family had four rooms and thirty acres of land.
At that time, she was from a middle-class family, so she married into her.
"I'm back, brother and sister-in-law, please open the door quickly." Hearing this, Jia Chao, who was standing in front of the door, couldn't help but laugh. Unexpectedly, his sister-in-law was still a petty person, thinking about her own money...
However, I was so lucky this time when I returned home. I met noble people one after another, and not only did I bring the money I was supposed to bring, but I also got extra horses, silk, and silver!
So, where do we calculate these?
In fact, Jia Chao had already thought carefully about it on the way here on horseback: he wanted his brother to use the money to buy some fertile land for his family; he wanted to ride the horse to several nearby pavilions to see if he could recruit a cavalryman.
It's like looking for a job; but my mother is old and has never enjoyed this silk. She must first make her a good suit of clothes, and then use one as a betrothal gift to marry myself a wife who is more beautiful than my sister-in-law. If there is any,
For the rest, I might not be able to make some clothes for my sister-in-law because she has been taking care of my mother at home for several years.
While he was laughing, the door had been opened, and the small courtyard surrounded by his four thatched houses, as well as his brother and sister-in-law, suddenly appeared in front of Jia Chao.
Seeing the two of them staring at him and the horses behind him in such astonishment, Jia Chao certainly became more and more proud.
"I have some dried meat here. My sister-in-law will use it to make some hot soup and we will eat together later." After many years of experience outside, Jia Chao is no longer the country boy he used to be. He opens his mouth and gives orders in a very orderly manner.
."Eldest brother, go to the neighbors' houses to borrow some fodder to feed the horses... Also, where is the mother? I want to pay my respects to her first!"
"In the first year of Yongping, when the sacrifices were made to Xi and the bribes were restored, He attacked and beheaded Xin Zhiben, so all the Xianbei people came to join him and went to Liaodong to receive rewards. It was common for Qing and Xu states to give 270 million a year in money. Ming Dynasty,
Chapter II, the defense is safe and sound." - "Book of the Later Han" Volume 90. Biography of Wuhuan and Xianbei. 80
