Established a thousand-year family from the end of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 421 Competing in the Central Plains ([-])

New Year
Yandu
at night
"Light up!"

"Light up!"

"Light up!"

Yan State's National Day and New Year's Day are on the same day, therefore, at the centennial celebration of the founding of the country, Yan Houxue called all the clan's children or representatives, as well as thousands of subjects, to celebrate this day together.

A large number of red lanterns (kongming lanterns) were released in the sky, illuminating the dark starry sky.

Yan Houshuang died of illness two years ago, and the country of Yan returned to the era of Yanhou.

Yan Houxue is now 70 years old, and her 70th birthday coincides with the Centennial National Day.

In the tall buildings, many musicians are singing poems and beating various musical instruments, some exotic musical instruments introduced from the Silk Road are also used.

There are also many rare birds and beasts locked in iron cages for the people of Yandu to watch.

The ground was covered with red-dyed wool blankets, and all kinds of precious swallow glass utensils were brought out for use.

There are also performances of swordsmanship, equestrianism, swordsmanship, spearmanship, wrestling, Cuju, archery and so on.

Many small vendors also push wooden carts and sell the special snacks just made today at the allowed positions on both sides of the street.

All kinds of fruits are on the table, especially the coconuts from the Fruit Islands.

Every maid was equipped with high-grade spices from the Spice Islands, and wore the most luxurious silk clothes, but Yan Houxue herself was only wearing a simple gray-brown cloth.

Some aristocrats wear plain clothes to show that they are industrious and economical and love the people. At the same time, they let their maids and servants wear luxurious clothes to show the dignity of their families.

You own the house, women, and fields, and I own you. This is Yan Houxue's ruling ideology.

As the supreme ruler, he does not need to directly control wealth, but only needs to control the distribution power of wealth.

As the Marquis of Yan, what Yan Xue usually does is to mediate the conflicts between the various city lords and prevent large-scale internal friction.

And each city lord is originally a family, so when there is a conflict, it is a private duel between the nobles, and it is forbidden to resolve conflicts by means of war. This is the etiquette of the Yan Kingdom.

However, if one day, Yan Guoli collapsed, annexation wars among the city lords are also possible.

Through the ritual and music system, the infighting among the nobles is restrained as much as possible, so as to preserve the power of the entire dynasty.

This is the same as in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. At the beginning, the nobles were all family members, so there was no need to fight to the death, and there was no need to point out any conflicts.

At the same time, the mutual checks and balances between the Marquis of Yan and the nobles gave the guilds room to develop. Whenever the Marquis of Yan unifies the country of Yan, or the nobles completely self-govern, the guilds will be strangled in the cradle by the Marquis of Yan or the nobles.

Looking at the celebration scene of singing and dancing, Yan Xue was very pleased.

Today's Yan State is still considered safe and peaceful, with only one mob uprising every year on average. In this chaotic world, there is only one mob uprising every year, which is definitely considered to be excellent social security.

At this time, the craftsmen moved many slender bamboo tubes.

Immediately afterwards, amidst everyone's doubts, the bamboo tube was lit, and then...

boom!
The bamboo tube suddenly exploded, and the sound was very loud. The surrounding crowd panicked, but order was quickly restored.

Subsequently, more and more bamboo tubes exploded.

boom!
boom!
boom!
"Okay, okay!" Yanxue happily said three good words. Gunpowder was discovered by the Wang family more than 100 years ago, but after decades of development, the formula was understood, and after decades of development, it was optimized. With the combination of gunpowder, the gunpowder can only burn from the beginning to the current one that can barely explode.

From its appearance to its explosion, gunpowder has been developed for hundreds of years, but now it can barely explode, and its power is very small. Unless it explodes people at close range, it is difficult to cause even skin and flesh injuries. Not only is the power small, but the manufacturing cost of gunpowder is also high. High, the price of gunpowder of the same weight is fifty times that of gold.

A doctor in charge of researching gunpowder (golden elixir) laughed at himself: "It is better to use these expensive golden elixir as weapons than to use a slingshot played by children. .”

It is expensive and powerful, and if Yan Houxue didn't like these weird things, as long as he was a normal person, he would not study this thing.

"Your Majesty, please name these new musical instruments stuffed with gold elixir powder!" The person in charge of the research on the golden elixir (gunpowder) took the opportunity to please Yan Houxue. Think of it as a disposable musical instrument that can make sounds.

Looking at these "musical instruments" stuffed into bamboo tubes and exploding, Yan Houxue thought for a while, and then said with a smile: "Why don't we just call it... firecrackers."

Exploding bamboo tubes, called firecrackers, are fine.

"Light firecrackers!" The golden elixir refiner waved his hand and ordered his subordinates to ignite all the remaining firecrackers.

Bang bang bang bang bang! ——

The continuous sound of firecrackers spread all over the place, making the already prosperous Yandu even more festive.

Even if you dare to light firecrackers like this on the Centennial National Day, you don’t dare to be so extravagant on weekdays. After all, the cost of firecrackers is too high.

After the firecracker celebration, the craftsmen brought in a wooden cart, which used a lot of wooden gears and the principle of levers, and had a lot of geometry in its structure, so even if it was operated by a little girl, it would be difficult. It can animate this huge wooden toy that is almost as tall as the city wall.

In order to make this machine, it has taken more than 30 years of painstaking efforts of the artisans of Yan State, during which there were numerous failures, and many senior craftsmen were accidentally injured and died by the machine during the production process.

A large part of Yan's geometry was brought back from distant Greece when the ancestors visited Greece.

Every civilization in the world has its own specialties. The civil service system, ritual and music culture, bow and crossbow technology, farming technology, textile technology, and ceramic technology in the Central Plains are all top in the world.

Mathematics of Shenpo, Greek geometry, Roman city management, Jianan's iron-smelting technology, Anxi's armored cavalry, Xianbei's cavalry and archery, Yan's navigation, Qianghu's mountain warfare, every civilization has its own characteristics. It has its own uniqueness. Only by learning from each other can it grow, and those who are self-righteous and self-righteous can only kill themselves.

Even the dwarf cannibal natives of the Spice Islands have mastered the method of resisting miasma early on, and have advanced features of their own civilization.

The Fuyu people in the swamps of northern Liao have the skills to live in the swamps. In this regard, they are also advanced and worth learning.

This is what Confucius said, "When three people walk together, there must be my teacher." We must let go of our prejudices, even if we are facing a barbarian with little culture like Buyeo, we must also see the strengths of each other and learn from each other's strengths. In order to defeat the opponent, this is Tian Xingjian, and a gentleman strives for self-improvement.

Yan State does not have the burden of idols in the kingdom of heaven, so it can not care about face, let go of the self-esteem that it does not have, and humbly learn from the barbarians around it, learn riding and archery from Xianbei people, learn swamp survival from Buyeo people, and learn from Goguryeo people Fighting in the mountains and forests, learning to resist miasma from the spice natives, and learning ritual and music culture from the Central Plains.

As the king of the heavens, the Great Jin obviously couldn't let go of his self-esteem, and it was impossible to lower his status to learn from those humble barbarians.

(End of this chapter)