"What a fine poem! What beautiful calligraphy!" Qin Yue exclaimed after taking a look. Then, looking at his own four characters, "wind, flowers, snow, and moon," he felt so ashamed he wanted to cry.
"You flatter me too much, Huai Dao!" Qin Yue said with a satisfied smile.
"Brother Huaidao, the one who makes fish sink and geese fall from the sky is Xi Shi washing silk and Wang Zhaojun leaving the border, right? The one who makes the moon hide and flowers blush is Diao Chan worshipping the moon. Who is the other one?" Qin Yue asked curiously.
Qin Mu then remembered that Yang Yuhuan hadn't been born yet, and his lips twitched. He then said, "I just wrote it down because it sounded natural to me."
"Oh! I thought it was a story I didn't know," Qin Yue said, slightly disappointed.
"It's only two sentences. Why don't you complete it, Brother Huaidao?" Qin Yue said after taking another look.
"That brat, is he deliberately causing trouble?" Qin Mu thought to himself, only remembering these two sentences. How could he fill in the rest?
"I can only think of these two sentences for now. If Miss Qin finds the other side monotonous, you can make a painting of it."
"What a pity. I never imagined that Brother Huaidao was such a talented poet. His calligraphy is beyond my reach," Qin Yue sighed.
"Brother Lingyun, you flatter me."
“I’m telling the truth.”
"Hmph! Who told you to study Confucianism? Now you've become a hybrid, neither fish nor fowl," Qin Yue said with dissatisfaction.
"Our Qin family studies military strategy and practices martial arts. Only my foolish brother is fascinated by Confucianism. Although he has entered the school and become a Confucian scholar, he is far inferior to Brother Huaidao." Qin Yue shook his head and sighed.
Since they both cultivated the Righteous Qi, they naturally sensed each other. Although he didn't know how strong Qin Mu was, Qin Yue could still feel that Qin Mu's Righteous Qi was much stronger than his own.
In addition, it is unknown whether he really lacks the talent, but Qin Yue is really mediocre when it comes to poetry, calligraphy and painting. On the contrary, he is outstanding in horsemanship and archery.
After hearing Qin Yue's introduction, Qin Mu couldn't help but laugh. It was quite rare for someone born into such a large family to be so unbalanced in their studies.
"You're still better than me. You're a girl who's invincible at Juyong Pass, but you're completely clueless about music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and you don't know a thing about needlework or singing and dancing. I wonder who would dare to marry you in the future?" Qin Yue retorted, unable to save face.
"Qin Lingyun, are you itching for a beating again?" Qin Yue blushed, gritted her teeth, and glared at Qin Yue.
"A good man doesn't fight with a woman," Qin Yue said, pouting guiltily.
Qin Mu realized that Qin Yue wasn't going easy on Qin Yue; he was simply too weak to beat her, or rather, he was afraid of being beaten up.
"I'll have someone forge a folding fan out of fine steel another day, and Huai Dao can inscribe it for me." Seeing Qin Yue yield, Qin Yue immediately became like a proud swan, raising her snow-white neck and then speaking cheerfully.
"Made of high-quality steel, as if the fan surface will never break," Qin Yue muttered to himself.
"No problem." Seeing that Qin Yue was about to lash out at Qin Yue again, Qin Mu quickly interjected and agreed.
"Hmph!" Qin Yue snorted coldly and let her brother, or rather her younger brother, go.
After finishing with the folding fan, the three of them went out, naturally accompanied by Lu Ce and Qin Yue, the brother and sister.
After walking through several main streets, Qin Mu realized that although Juyong Pass was called a pass, it was no smaller than an ordinary city, and probably at least larger than Youzhou City.
As expected, Qin Mu learned from Qin Yue's subsequent introduction that Juyong Pass was built against the mountain and was divided into the front pass and the rear pass. The front pass faced the grassland and was only a kilometer wide, but the rear pass was a city. The families of the soldiers who guarded the pass and the Great Wall lived there.
After a thousand years of development, even with many deaths in battle, the original 300,000 have grown to over 3.5 million. This is a tremendous force and the foundation of the Qin family's strength.
Qin Yue's words revealed pride, pride that his Qin family had been able to protect the Three Passes for a thousand years.
The city was filled with the heroic spirit of the North. Most of the men who came and went carried swords and knives, and their steps were firm.
"All the people of the three passes, regardless of age or gender, must undergo training. If a pass is breached, they will live and die with it. The Qin family is the same; as long as the pass exists, they live; if the pass is lost, they die," Qin Yue proudly explained.
"The Qin family is truly remarkable." Thinking about a family that has guarded the border for a thousand years and grown its population from hundreds of thousands to millions, Qin Mu couldn't help but show his admiration and sincerely praised them.
"Alas! It's nothing more than the legacy of our ancestors. The Three Passes region has now reached a bottleneck in its development," Qin Yue sighed.
"Why is that?" Qin Mu asked, puzzled.
"Land! The land in the Three Passes region is not fertile, mostly consisting of mountains and steep ridges."
"Why not relocate some people out and ask the court for the right to conscript soldiers? I think the court would agree," Qin Mu asked curiously.
"The Three Passes are different from other places. We implement Qin laws, which cannot be used in other places," Qin Yue explained.
Qin Mu basically understood. It was said that Qin law was strict, and if they moved out, people's hearts would easily change, which could easily lead to a bad atmosphere.
"Those who live near mountains live off the mountains, and those who live near water live off the water. There will always be a way. The Three Passes cover an area of two thousand miles. How could it not support millions of people?" Qin Mu comforted him.
"Brother Huaidao, do you have a solution?" Qin Yue asked with delight.
"This is my first time at Juyong Pass. I know nothing about this place. How can I possibly find a solution?" Qin Mu said with a wry smile.
"Don't mind him, Huai Dao, he's just obsessed," Qin Yue said irritably.
Ninety percent of the history he remembered was useless. Although the geographical location was similar, the area was much larger, and the mountains and rivers were unclear. Qin Mu really had no way to understand it.
However, in this world, the people were generally healthier, and the harvests were good. In addition, the First Emperor introduced two seasons of rice during his conquest of the Baiyue, so the people were basically free from worries about food and clothing. As long as the emperor was not too incompetent, the country would not descend into chaos.
Qin Mu learned that the course of history in this world had been roughly the same for over a thousand years, except that there had been no Five Barbarian Invasions, and all the power struggles had been between powerful clans. The main targets of the wars were the beastmen.
"Well then, let me check out the terrain here first, and then we'll figure out a solution. I suppose increasing grain production boils down to agricultural tools and irrigation." Seeing Qin Yue's disappointed expression, Qin Mu felt sorry for him and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he spoke.
"Then it's settled!" Qin Yue said happily.
"Xiao Yue has always wanted to solve the problem of supplies for the three passes, so he chose Confucianism, hoping to use its magical methods to solve the problem." Seeing that Qin Yue was a bit far away, Qin Yue lowered her voice to explain.
"Brother Lingyun is truly remarkable." Seeing that Qin Yue had chosen an unfamiliar and more difficult path for the sake of the three trials, Qin Mu couldn't help but say admiringly.
"What's the use! He just doesn't have the talent. In all these years, he hasn't even written two poems, let alone an essay," Qin Yue said mockingly, pouting.
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