Chapter 296: People are united
Zhao Ji was stunned for a long time before she replied, "Yes, why is it so difficult..."
Cai Yong was a great scholar of his time, and it was impossible for him to have no background at all. However, after he failed in the political struggle, the Chenliu Cai family apparently did not provide him with any protection. Instead, he had to take refuge under the Taishan Yang family. The Taishan Yang family could not even save their sister's son, and was no longer a wealthy family.
This is true even for people with names and surnames, let alone the common people in the countryside who may have used a nickname since childhood, let alone a given name.
In remote areas where medical conditions are so poor, a simple cold can kill a person or leave him with irreversible sequelae.
Not to mention conscription during war, which is really a deadly job.
Now there is also drought and a locust plague that is very likely to break out in a month.
This undoubtedly added the last straw to the already precarious situation.
Zhao Ji listened to the heavy tone in Qiao Yan's voice, and then she realized belatedly -
The Guanzhong, Bingzhou, and Liangzhou that she saw were places where conditions seemed less severe due to Qiao Yan's various measures.
If we were to speculate on the situation in the entire Central Plains based on the situation in these three states, we would be completely wrong.
No one in those places had speculated on the location of underground reservoirs through the mountains and the alluvial fans formed by the meltwater on them. No one, after getting a mechanical wizard like Ma Jun, could clearly allow him to focus more on the research and development of weapons, but still required him to give more consideration to the tools for digging wells and canals.
Now with the talented Huang Yueying working with them, the impact drilling equipment has become easier for people to understand and build.
Cai Zhaoji followed Qiao Yan's footsteps and continued, "No wonder the Lord asked me to record in the May issue something that is easy for people to learn. If we can help more people survive with this knowledge, the time and benefits we lose will not be worth much."
A key topic in the May issue is how to collect rainwater from occasional rainfall during droughts.
This collection, of course, does not mean that people just put a basin outside the house to collect more water.
Each household has limited containers, and the water collected in this way is really a drop in the bucket compared to the water needed during the entire drought.
This is teaching people how to make the rainwater flowing through the surface in a more appropriate way, with part of it retained and part of it allowed to evenly penetrate the area it flows through, rather than flowing through quickly and being deposited in puddles into the ground. 1
Interestingly, one of the measures was previously used to regulate the flow of the Wei River.
It's the stone cage.
Gabions learned from the Dujiangyan project.
In modern terms, this thing is like a hierarchical control structure. When placed in small rivers during droughts, it can slow down runoff and allow the water to penetrate into the soil as slowly as possible, so as to achieve the purpose of soaking more land.
Those who are responsible for building water conservancy projects in the three states actually already know what size to weave and where to put it, and they are very skilled in the operation.
The reason why it is published in the Leping Monthly is to prevent someone from thinking that this thing is maliciously cutting off the water flow, and to give people in other states the opportunity to learn such a self-rescue method.
Compared to the first time she proposed to try printing, now is a more appropriate time for it to enter the stage of the times!
Everyone can only be thankful that at a time like this when people need to be enlightened and work together to overcome the disaster, there is such a means to allow paper as a medium to play its greatest role, instead of letting everyone in the painting academy bury themselves in copying work, and even potentially waste paper due to improper drawing process.
However, few people notice that this technology has already started an unstoppable development.
Thinking of the decision made at the court meeting to print "Jijiupian" in large quantities as the first classic book this summer, Zhao Ji couldn't help but think of the promise Qiao Yan had made to her.
Everything will come slowly.
"Jijiupian" is a children's literacy textbook compiled by Huangmen Ling in the Western Han Dynasty, but it does not only teach literacy, but also includes a lot of common knowledge in life. It is nominally acceptable to print it this year. After all, the various popular science knowledge in the monthly report that can help people survive the disaster years should be made known to the public as much as possible.
Although this thing is not as catchy as the literacy nursery rhymes that Qiao Yan asked Yang Xiu to write during the Leping period, it is more official and orthodox.
To Zhong Changtong, who came to Chang'an to pay a visit to Qiao Yan half a month ago, this thing would be quite interesting.
There is a sentence in "Jijiupian" called -
The marquises had local ministers in their fiefdoms, and their achievements were due to their accumulated knowledge, not ghosts and gods. Fengyi Jingzhao governs the people with integrity, fairness and kindness. 2
This seems to be exactly the portrayal of what Qiao Yan is doing now, and it once again emphasizes the theory that man can conquer nature.
Zhao Ji didn't think so much. She just pulled her mind away from the fantasy of the future of printing. She turned around and saw Qiao Yan had walked forward a distance. She hurriedly chased after him: "My Lord, wait for me!"
Don’t walk so fast just because you are tall and have long legs!
Yu Niang is just a member of an inconspicuous village at the foot of Mount Qishan.
Since it is at the foot of Mount Qishan, it must be considered as Guanzhong territory.
But it seems that people outside Sili don't know much about this place, as if the people living in the fertile land of Guanzhong can enjoy a prosperous life.
No.
Not only that, the people here may be suffering more than others know.
During the Zhongping period, the Liangzhou rebels wreaked havoc on the three prefectures, including Qishan County.
Yu Niang, who was only four or five years old at the time, could never forget that scene even in her dreams.
These barbarians who rushed into Guanzhong and plundered wantonly did not take into account that since the imperial court moved from Chang'an to Luoyang at the beginning of the Later Han Dynasty, Guanzhong was no longer a prosperous place. Instead, it was used by the imperial court as a barrier against Liangzhou. They rushed into this place and burned, killed and looted wantonly.
Although they were soon driven back to Liangzhou and the clash of forces was brought back to their own territory, her father died that year in order to protect the family assets from being robbed by these thieves.
It was also from that time that the young Yu Niang needed to take on more responsibilities at home.
Because there are few strong laborers in the family, it is impossible for them to cultivate the land according to the maximum amount of 100 acres per household. There are not so many fields for them to cultivate in Guanzhong, so most of the time, they are in a state of relying on the mountains for their livelihood.
Such days were spent in ignorance and peace. Even the death of Emperor Ling of Han seemed like a distant and unreal news to them.
Afterwards, Dong Zhuo fled to Chang'an.
While Yu Niang was feeling lucky that there were no male children in her family, so there were no people to be conscripted, she was also listening to the chaotic noises outside and vaguely heard that taxes might be increased, which made her feel confused.
She gritted her teeth and carefully counted the coins she had saved over the years from under the bed, but she couldn't find a single cent. She began to worry whether the remaining money could last for another year.
Fortunately, perhaps because Qishan was too poor, Dong Zhuo did not pay much attention to it.
There are no garrisons or farming here, only people who live day by day.
Yu Niang felt that it would be pretty good if she could just continue living like this.
Then, two years later, a new royal army, a new emperor, and a new army arrived here.
These news seemed to be separated from them by a thin veil and had not really reached them.
It was not until the officials under the Grand Minister of Agriculture of Chang'an visited each place that they arrived at the village where they were.
What really surprised Yu Niang was that the visiting officer was actually a female official.
In her swift and clear speech, she finalized the method of redistributing the land after counting. Even Yu Niang, who depended on her mother and sister for support, was allocated a total of 25 acres of land.
When the female official was about to leave, Yu Niang couldn't help but look at her curiously for a long time.
I don’t know if it was because her gaze was too presumptuous that she was caught red-handed.
The other party asked her what her name was. After getting the answer of "Yu Niang", she did not turn around and leave, but asked: "Which Yu?"
Yu Niang pointed to the elm tree at the entrance of the village and replied, "This elm."
The other party suddenly laughed, "Then we are destined to be together. My name also has the character Yu, but I want to remove the character Yu next to your character Mu. Yu Ran means stability, so when you chose a name for me, you also extended it based on this interpretation. You also added the character Mu, so isn't it more peaceful?"
Yu Niang is not sure, can they really enjoy peace?
Qishan Mountain, which is located in the mountains extending from east to west, did not give people the peace of mind of a barrier and support in the early years. Instead, it looked like a ghostly place hiding countless dangers in the twilight of the night.
Fortunately, they now have land, so they have the capital to have enough food.
Her sister also quickly found a job in Chang'an City's extensive recruitment and received a relatively stable salary.
Although two people are now required to undertake the planting task of the 25 acres of land, Yu Niang feels that this is already many times better than in the early years.
She was ten years old and could push the distributed curved plow. In the absence of oxen or donkeys to help with farming, the improvement of this farming tool allowed her to help her mother complete the land reclamation and sowing, and she also saved a batch of grain in the autumn harvest of the first and second years of Jian'an.
The fields are indeed a little small, but it doesn’t matter, they don’t eat much.
After saving enough grain for the next year, her mother discussed with her about selling the remaining grain. After all, the price of grain in Guanzhong was very stable now, and they could buy some if they really needed it. This way, they would have more money in the jar they used to save money.
According to Yu Niang and her mother's plan, the money will be used to pay the rent for using oxen to plow the fields next year. Then they can use the saved time to do more needlework and get more money than the rent after selling it.
This is a very good deal.
Yu Niang has already made up her mind that when they save more money, they will move to a place closer to the central part of the Guanzhong Plain, closer to the emperor's feet, and maybe she will even be able to see the female official who said she was destined to be with her.
But it seems that God has no intention of being kind to those who have come out of dangerous situations and are just trying to live a good life.
After taking leave, my sister returned home with news from the city, announcing that there might be drought and locust plague this year.
Twelve-year-old Yu Niang and her mother opened the piggy bank, looked at it reluctantly for a long time, and decided to buy some food first.
Because not long after this belated news reached her, she discovered that the water in her well was indeed not as deep as before.
When drought strikes, even the well water may dry up!
They do need to store more food, at least for one more year next year.
The loss caused her so much pain that she bit her fingers for a long time. But she didn't know what magical power made her see the monthly report displayed outside the bookstore in Mei County when she passed by it, and she discussed with her mother to buy it.
The price of three Wuzhu coins is definitely not expensive compared to paper and text, but if you compare it with the price of rice, it is almost the price of a dou of rice, which is actually not cheap at all.
But the store owner said that what was written on it was a way for them to survive the disaster, so it would be better for them to buy one and take it home, otherwise they would have to buy a bottle of soy sauce to get it as a gift.
Compared this way, this is more cost-effective.
In order to save money, Yu Niang moved from Qishan to Mei County, so of course she was reluctant to buy soy sauce.
Maybe it was because she was hesitant when buying the newspaper, but the store gave her an extra copy of last month's edition.
The kind that got torn during shipping and can't be sold.
Although it was a defective product, Yu Niang still felt like she had found a treasure.
She was illiterate and could only guess at the pictures in the newspaper with her mother.
When they really couldn't guess the name, they mobilized dozens of households living nearby to guess together.
It’s no wonder that the news wasn’t communicated more accurately to such remote places.
There is a difference between announcing a drought or a locust plague and counting the population and fields.
The court still controlled the disaster situation from the top down, checking the order from the main branch of the Wei River to the runoff bit by bit, so the drilling and irrigation of wells also had to be done in order.
There are many such settlements of dozens of households scattered along the mountains on both sides of the Guanzhong area, and we have to visit them one by one.
"We need to dig a deep well, right?" Yu Niang asked, pointing at the impact drilling vehicle in the monthly report.
As April began, it was not just their family that started to see the well water in their village dry up.
We have to find a way out.
The oldest man in the village asked, "You mean, we should build this well-drilling machine ourselves?"
"Of course not!" Yu Niang's eyes widened. "Did you see the note next to this? This palm-leaf fan file, used to chisel large holes, weighs more than a thousand pounds. It relies on these conversion ropes and poles to allow it to be operated by stepping on the pestle. Even if we take out all the spare money from each family, we can't afford such a palm-leaf fan head!"
"You said it all. It says here that we are asked to cooperate with the county chiefs to dig wells. There must be such a thing distributed in Qishan County. We have dozens of families. It's not too much to want to dig a well, right?"
Not too much! Of course not too much!
Even though the chaos in Liangzhou in the early years had caused the number of people in their families to be far less than the average of five people per household, there were still hundreds of people here. They just wanted a well to save their lives, which was not an excessive act at all.
Yu Niang said firmly: "Let's go to Qishan County and see if we can borrow one. We can transport it ourselves and operate the well ourselves, so as not to waste their manpower."
The old man thought for a moment and replied, "Okay! Let's send a few more people to go with us."
Yu Niang's guess was not wrong. The well-drilling truck that was sent from Chang'an to Qishan County was still idle here. It was originally supposed to wait for the deep well excavation here to enter the next stage, which would save a lot of manpower, and then be transported to the surrounding areas to assist the local villagers in completing the task. Now that someone came directly to them and could explain the well-drilling process clearly, she immediately delivered the well-drilling truck to them.
As the well-drilling vehicle was pushed towards the small village, Yu Niang touched the monthly report in her bag, and her eyes became brighter and brighter.
She seemed to have accomplished something remarkable.
What made her even more excited was that on the way to Qishan County to borrow the well-drilling vehicle, the people who stayed in the village did not just sit there and wait.
Based on their experience, they had chosen a suitable location for deep digging, leveled the wellhead and put in a stone circle.
The pestle frame and the cart were fixed above the wellhead, and then the tedious process of using the palm-leaf fan file to drill deeper into the rock at the bottom of the well began.
Yu Niang didn't understand how the principle of leverage worked, but she knew that after such a transformation, even her mother's physical strength could be used for such self-rescue work, and she took on the task of managing the fields.
In this way, no matter whether the drought is getting more severe or not, even if the soil in the fields is cracked more seriously, for this small village with a population of more than a hundred people, it is still far from being a cause of panic.
The sound of the file falling when digging a well is actually a calming sound.
What is even more exciting is the dusk seven days later.
Suddenly, a sound rang out at the moment when the knocking sound of iron and rock stopped, reaching the ears of everyone here -
"Water! There's water in the well!"
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