Being fooled by fierce beasts to travel through the beginning is fleeing famine

Because of the rain, the oxcart did not go very fast. Fortunately, the road was wide enough so that the vehicles behind them could pass by.

The rain was light, but it didn't affect the view. It was just that the sky was very overcast, and dark clouds seemed to be pressing on top of the head. It was very depressing to watch.

Chou Chou and Huang Jin also came out. It was one thing not wanting to come out before, but it was another thing not being able to come out. It was quite frustrating to be in the space for the past two or three days.

Huang Jin was driving the car in front, while Jin Yang and Chou Chou were in the carriage. Even if the top was extended, rain would still come in from both sides, so it was best for one person to sit in the middle and drive the car, so as not to get caught in the rain.

"You said the stone statues in the lake over there suddenly disappeared. Why didn't the people over there react? Don't you think of something else?"

Qingyan asked Chou Chou.

The previous news only went to a few people to check, but no one paid attention to it after that. This is a bit abnormal.

It is said that there were no entertainment activities in ancient times. Whenever there was any abnormality, it would be known to everyone. Everyone would discuss it, and it would even lead to a lot of conjectures. The rumors would become more and more outrageous, and it would not calm down for a while.

It was as if this incident had never happened. Even Aunt Xiao, who had experienced it, told her family about it at dinner last night.

Li Laifu even said that the stone statue had been there for many years, and maybe it sank to the bottom of the lake because the stone underneath was finally soaked.

It didn't feel strange at all, as if he had expected such a day.

Chou Chou: "The stone statue has been there for many years. Apart from arousing the curiosity of some young people, it has not done anything harmful to the people around it, so people gradually stopped paying attention to it.

As long as it doesn't affect life, it doesn't matter to the people nearby whether it disappears or not, that's why it's so peaceful. "

Qingyan nodded, "I see. By the way, how are the bandits doing? Have any other accomplices been found? And has the government colluded with the bandits?"

Chou Chou shook his head, "No, all those people were caught in one fell swoop before, and the government did not tolerate it. They directly reported it to the state capital, and when the approval from the state capital came, they beheaded those people in public.

Oh, by the way, the lair of those bandits was also found out. It turned out to be in a mountain not far from the county seat. There was a village with more than a dozen households over there, and all the able-bodied men became bandits.

The officials have also arrested all the old, weak, women and children in the village. Even if they did not participate in the robbery and murder, they were still insiders, so they were all locked up.

Because the order was given in a timely manner and the officials acted quickly, catching the opponent off guard, no fish slipped through the net. "

Qingyan sighed with emotion: "Those bandits are indeed hiding in the village. I didn't expect that a whole village is full of bandits. They are probably like those human traffickers in later generations. People in the same village may have been covering for each other at first, but gradually they saw that The benefits are good, and we start to join in the same trend.”

Chou Chou nodded, "That's it. Robbery can make money faster than farming and doing business, and if you have one, there are two. As long as you cross the bottom line, you will get deeper and deeper, and it will be difficult to get out."

Jin Yang also said: "Our journey has been peaceful. It is said that there was more chaos at the beginning of the founding of the country. There were people who were kings of the mountains everywhere. Now many of them have been wiped out."

This is true. The Song Dynasty in this world has been established for more than ten years. During this period, many places were taken over by new officials. They would wipe out the bandits within their jurisdiction and establish their authority in turn. As long as they succeeded, it would be their own merit.

The three of them walked and chatted all the way. Because the carriage door was open, Huang Jin would sometimes join in. Only Yuan Bao was either eating snacks or sleeping.

They didn't stop for lunch either. They had sesame cakes stuffed with braised pork. They had bought the sesame cakes in the northwest and kept them in ChouChou Space. When they took them out, they looked like they were freshly made.

Aunt Xiao prepared "痗" and steamed dried bacon for them. The word "痗" was not a beautiful word in later generations, but in ancient times it was a kind of food.

"Li Ren of Zhou Dynasty" mentions an idiom "痗簗粉磺". Bait is a block-shaped food steamed from rice, and 玺 is a cake-shaped food made of rice.

"痗" is something made of rice that looks like a crispy rice. Because it is baked and dried, it is very durable. However, it is more time-consuming to make. It seems that it must have been prepared beforehand.

"Mandarin·Chu" says "embarrassment in a basket". The ancients used small bamboo baskets to carry embarrassment as dry food when traveling far away.

Imagine that the ancients were preparing to go on a long journey, carrying a baggage on their backs, a small basket in their hands, a "embarrassment" in the basket, a money bag hanging on their waist, and an oil-paper umbrella. This pile of equipment was very tiring. ,
No wonder the farthest place many people have ever visited in their lives may be the neighboring village. It is really difficult to go out once.

You can eat it directly, soak it in water, or cook it with other foods. To eat it directly, you need to have good teeth. If you have bad teeth, you can't bite it.

And the taste is very average, that is, it can fill the stomach. If it is not paired with some fatty or strong-flavored jerky or vegetables, it will be really difficult to swallow.

So they put it away first and just ate the sesame seed cakes they had saved.

Today is the 20th day of the first lunar month. I don’t know if there’s something here. It’s raining and there are a lot of people on the road. Not only those driving cars, but also many pedestrians. Most of them are wearing raincoats and holding umbrellas because they are carrying poles. Not many of them.

Qingyan used her spiritual sense to investigate and found that the bamboo basket they picked contained some grain and nothing else.

The strange thing is that the carts they pull or carry on their shoulders are all loaded with grain. This is no coincidence. It means that today should be a festival about grain.

She asked Chou Chou directly if they knew what the festival was on the twentieth day of the first lunar month.

It turned out that Huang Jin really knew that the twentieth day of the first lunar month was called the Sky-Building Festival, and in some places it was also called the Tianchuan Festival.

This festival is mainly popular in the Guanzhong area and among the Hakka people, but some also hold it on the 23rd day of the first lunar month.

There is also a story from ancient times about the origin of this festival.

It is said that in ancient times, one day the earth suddenly collapsed, volcanoes erupted, floods were huge, ferocious beasts attacked the refugees, giant eagles snatched away children, and the people were in dire straits.

It turns out that there was a hole in the sky, and the sky leaked, which caused these disasters.

Thanks to Empress Nuwa, she refined the colorful stones to fill the gap in the sky, saved mankind and enabled the people to survive.

In order to commemorate the great deeds of Nuwa, people designated the twentieth day of the first lunar month as the Sky Mending Festival.

The Day of Mending the Sky also reflects the importance of women in family life in ancient times. It is the only folk festival in which women in the family serve as sacrifices.

On this day, people commemorate Nuwa, the empress who patched up the sky and saved mankind, by soaking in hot springs, filling granaries, eating pancakes and spring rolls and other customary activities, expressing the people's hope of having enough food and clothing. In addition to the Sky-Mending Festival, there is another related festival on the 20th day of the first lunar month, which is the Warehouse-Filling Festival.

There is also a legend about the origin of the Warehouse Filling Festival.

It is said that a long time ago, there was a severe drought in the north, and there was no harvest in the fields. The local people suffered from hunger, and the court did not care about the lives of the people and refused to open warehouses to release grain for disaster relief.

But an official who was guarding the royal granary at that time couldn't bear to see the scene of starving people everywhere, so he opened the granary privately.

This incident happened on the 25th day of the first lunar month, so in order to commemorate this warehouse official, people called the 25th day of the first lunar month the Warehouse Filling Festival.

On the day of the Granary Filling Festival, people will worship the Granary Lord and pray for a good harvest in the coming year.

The twentieth day of the first lunar month is called the small Tiancang, and the twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month is called the Big Tiancang.

"Barrel Filling Day" is a day to fill up the granary at home, which means that the family will not have to worry about food and drink, and will have more than enough every year.

Ancient people would get up early every day on this day, use sifted plant ash to draw barns of different sizes in their yards or threshing fields, and put grains in the barns to symbolize the year. The weather is good and the grain is plentiful.

In addition, there are some other customary activities on the twentieth day of the first lunar month.

For example, take a hot spring bath in Lishan Mountain. Legend has it that Empress Nuwa saved mankind by refining the multicolored stones in Lishan Mountain to mend the sky. The red rocks behind the Shiweng Temple in Xiuling, east of Lishan Mountain are the traces left by Nuwa Empress when she refined the multicolored stones.

People would think that the hot springs were formed by absorbing the spiritual power of Nuwa. Soaking in the hot springs in Lishan can not only wash away the dirt on your body, but also has the effects of keeping fit and prolonging your life. You can also completely relax your body and mind in this place full of outstanding people.

Qingyan was secretly stunned after hearing this. There were so many customs and festivals in ancient times, especially after the Chinese New Year, there seemed to be festivals in the first month.

It seems that these things no longer exist in later generations. Of course, there may be places where they exist, but they are not known to everyone. They may only be passed down in a small area. At least they are not as popular as the Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival. They are almost The whole world knows.

Of course, it is also because productivity in ancient times was too low, and there were many problems that could not be solved with human power, such as illness, natural and man-made disasters, so they could only rely on their ancestors and gods, so there were so many sacrifices. .

Yes, traditional festivals actually come from sacrifices, just like the Spring Festival is to welcome the new year and drive away the New Year beast.

The Dragon Boat Festival is to worship Qu Yuan, the Mid-Autumn Festival is to worship the moon, etc...

It seems that when she goes back in the future, she will study these traditional festivals carefully. Some of them are really interesting, and each festival will have a legend in it.

When the rain subsided, Qingyan and Yuanbao opened the window on one side of the carriage and looked at the pedestrians on the road.

After noon, there seemed to be fewer and fewer people. There were not as many people as in the morning. At that time, most people would go out to carry grain to the threshing floor, or carry it to their own yards.

There will be less food after noon, and you may encounter another wave before dark. After all, you have to take the food back after picking it out. You can't leave it outside on a rainy day.

To be honest, this is so pious that he is willing to carry out food even when it rains.

You must know that food is very precious no matter what time it is. If you pick out the food on a rainy day, if it gets wet in the rain, it will easily sprout or become moldy, and it will be wasted by then.

Just because there is such a festival, they still take the risk of wasting food and pick out the food and walk around. This can be seen that ancient times valued sacrifices and festivals.

They really lived a more ritualistic and lifelike life than the people of later generations, and their relationships with each other were more enthusiastic, unlike the indifference of later generations.

There is much more to come. Sure enough, around five o'clock, when they reached an area with more villages, they met another group of people who were carrying food back to their homes.

After this wave of people passed, there were basically no pedestrians on the road. At this time, the rain actually started to fall heavily, from light rain to moderate rain. It seems that this weather has opened a back door for those villagers, otherwise it would be so The heavy rain not only affects food, but also makes people sick.

It was almost dark at this time, and even if they had consciousness, they could not clearly see the potholes under the puddles on the road, and they did not intend to continue on their way.

Bian found a relatively secluded place nearby and entered the space. After entering the space, Jin Yang dried the water on the carriage. It was convenient to have this little sun around.

The old scalper also went to the lake to eat grass and drink water. I didn't feed it all day. It was already thirsty and hungry, so I trotted away.

Because it was relatively humid outside, even with the Fire Spirit Stone, they kept the carriage door and windows open at the time, and Qingyan felt sticky on her body.

So as soon as I finished dinner, I took another hot bath and changed into comfortable pajamas before resting.

Before taking a break, they told Chou Chou to look outside. If it rains again tomorrow, they will stay in the space for another day instead of rushing in the rain.

You won't be able to cover much distance even if you walk in the rain. The road will be slippery on rainy days, and there are many mountainous roads here. If you encounter some kind of landslide, it will be troublesome.

And today, despite the fact that they had been traveling all day, they had not gone very far, only thirty or forty miles.

We only passed through one town in the middle, and the others were some villages, so we basically didn’t go very far.

As soon as she got up the next morning, Chou Chou told Qingyan that the rain outside had not stopped but was getting heavier. It rained moderately all night last night and turned into heavy rain in the morning.

Not only that, the temperature has also dropped, from the previous dozen degrees to a few degrees. Judging from the situation, the temperature may drop even further.

Qingyan said with some worry: "Is it going to be a cold spring? Will there be another disaster?"

Chou Chou nodded, "It's possible that there has been a Little Ice Age in the past two years. Not only is the temperature low in winter, but the late spring cold in spring will also be severe. The north should still have some experience, and the south will be more Seriously, it can basically drop to below zero.

Once it drops below zero and it rains here, it will turn into freezing rain, which is just like winter, or even more uncomfortable than winter.

Whenever a disaster occurs in ancient times, it will be difficult to recover, at least it will take a long time, which is really fatal. "

(End of this chapter)