Jagged Warlord

Preliminary results have been achieved in culling locusts, but the work of tearing down superstitious temples has encountered resistance.

Li Mohan is very determined, he will take this opportunity to wipe out the feudal superstition.So he called a meeting of the county magistrates and the SS officers who accompanied them to work in the countryside.

Li Mohan first said that the Chinese countryside has been under the rule of the feudal government for a long time, and the traditional feudal culture has a relatively deep accumulation, and superstition is the historical legacy of this traditional culture.Coupled with the severe natural disasters and frequent wars in modern rural areas, they threatened the lives of the general public and aggravated their psychological pressure.In order to get rid of suffering and obtain happiness, most ignorant and ignorant people have no choice but to pray to the gods, which has caused the prevalence of superstition in rural China.

Liu Xian, the magistrate of Yucheng County, thought so. He said: "The villagers are ignorant and think that the drought is caused by a monster called Hanba, so they have the bad habit of making drought bone piles. Excavate the newly buried tombs and drag the corpses out. , burn the bones of the dead."

The legend of Hanba originated very early. For example, there is a poem in "The Book of Songs" that "Dryba is cruel, like burning."The ancient myth "Shan Hai Jing Da Huang Bei Jing" said: When the Yellow Emperor fought against Chi You, Chi You invited Feng Bo Yushi to make a violent storm.The Yellow Emperor invited Nv Ba to stop the wind and rain, defeat Chi You, and kill Chi You.Later, the female demon could not return to the sky, so she stayed on the ground.Where she lives, there is no rain all year round.This female Ba is a Hanba.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the folks believed that the Hanbai were transformed from corpses within a hundred days of death. The corpses of people who became Hanbai would not rot, no grass would grow on the graves, and the graves would seep water. The Hanbai would carry water home at night. When there is a drought, it will rain only in the old days.

If there is wet soil on the new tomb of someone who encounters a long drought without rain, it means that there is a drought in the tomb.It is said that Hanba can drink all the water in the world and feed on live chickens.Therefore, there are not only moist soil on the head of the new tomb with drought, but also many chicken feathers can be found around the cemetery.Once this situation occurs in the big literature, it will be a drought.

When hitting the Hanba, the soil of the tomb must be dug up first to expose the coffin and then fasten it with a big hook to prevent the Hanba from escaping. A hole was drilled in the coffin.Put the soil gun filled with medicine and sand into it, and there was a "boom".The bones inside were scattered, and people were swarming up, digging up the corpses with hoes, picks, shovels and other iron tools, and dragging these pieces around.It will rain wherever you place the Hanba.

When catching Hanba, people still have words in their mouths, singing such ballads: Burn you Hanba to death!Burn you to death!The seedlings of my field shall grow.The trees I go up the mountain must be in rows, I want the grains to be plentiful, and I want the animals to prosper!I want clouds, rain, and good weather. I want to eat and drink and fill the tank with clean water.

Li Mohan nodded, and said: "Since we have found the root of the disease, we must prescribe the right medicine. One is to educate the people, let them believe in science, and get rid of superstition. The other is to build water conservancy to alleviate the drought."

Wang Shihua on the side said: "But enlightenment is not a matter of a day or two."

Li Mohan said: "It is true that educating the people will not be effective in Mashan, but locust eradication and drought relief are necessary and can be achieved immediately. This is also the reason why I sent the army to the countryside with the working group. The villagers do not understand why they do this now. , but the imminent disaster can't wait for them to figure it out before doing it. Then we can only do things first and let them think about it slowly."

Everyone didn't speak, they just pondered Li Mohan's words in their hearts, and felt that there really was no better way than this.

Li Mohan added: "The work of eradicating locusts is progressing well, and the work of drought relief must keep up in time. At present, the relatively simple method of drought relief is to dig more wells."

Liu Xian, the magistrate of Yucheng County, looked distressed and said, "The cost of digging a well is not small."

Liu Musheng interrupted and said, "I heard that someone near Shangqiu digs a well, and it costs only forty or fifty oceans, and it only costs thirty or forty yuan when converted into Chinese merchant tickets."

Liu Xian smiled and said: "Master Liu, that's not how the accounts are calculated. The water is underground, and the human eye is not piercing? Who can guarantee that water will come out when it is dug down? According to what I have seen for many years, for every ten wells dug, there are Two or three sips of water is already a remarkable thing."

The corner of Liu Musheng's eyes twitched, obviously he did not include the cost of the abandoned well.

Li Mohan thought for a while and said, "I have a way to get the teachers and students of the Road and Mine School to help. Although looking for ore and water are not the same thing, they are both looking for things under the ground. There should be something in common .It’s better to let them come to find water than the villagers to try their luck.”

Liu Musheng thought this suggestion was good, but he added: "However, these teachers and students are currently building their own new school buildings. Will pulling them away at this time will affect the progress of the school construction?"

Li Mohan shook his head and said, "I don't think so. This can be regarded as applying what you have learned. Besides, some teachers and students in the Road and Mine School teach railway construction. They can stay and continue to build the school."

Now that Li Mohan had spoken, the others had no objections, so a telegram was sent to Shangqiu, bringing all the mining students from the Road and Mining School to Yucheng County.

There were a total of twenty students who came here. They heard that they were going to dig wells for the villagers to fight the drought. Although they felt a bit overqualified in their hearts, this was Li Mohan's intention after all, and it was also a good thing to benefit the village. , so he agreed.

Under the guidance of the county magistrate Liu Xian, they first came to Qiantingzi Township, which was the hardest hit, to start work.On the day they arrived, it happened that the local villagers were praying for rain.

In front of a dry well, a middle-aged man in a long gown and mandarin jacket stood in front of a group of common people prostrate on the ground, commanding arrogantly. I don't know if it was because of the hot weather, but his forehead was covered with sweat.Behind the people kneeling on the ground, there were two small sedan chairs, on which sat a boy and a girl and two children.

"Everyone is ready to kneel, listen to my order, and kowtow to the Dragon King together. Don't laugh or make noise. If you annoy the Dragon King, you can't dig a well. Everyone is going to drink the northwest wind to celebrate the New Year."

After the common people had kneeled down, a middle-aged Taoist priest in a Taoist robe came over, opened a circle of silk scriptures in his hand, and began to read a long sacrificial oration in a dignified manner.He read for half an hour, his mouth was full of murmurs, but no one could understand.

After finishing the reading, he began to direct everyone to kowtow:

"A bow! Dragon God is merciful, give me clear water, save all living beings..."

"Second thanks~"

"Three salutes~"

After praying three times, the Taoist priest said: "The auspicious time has come. Offer sacrifices to the Dragon King."

The long-clothed man casually pointed to a few men, and said, "Hurry up, bring up the sacrifice, don't miss the hour."

Several men hurried over to carry the two children over.

Taoist priests have words about the dry well every year, to the effect that the local villagers offer a pair of boys and girls to the Dragon King, hoping that the Dragon King will be merciful and spread rain and dew widely.

After finishing the reading, the Taoist coughed lightly and signaled the male to throw the two children into the dry well.

"I want my mother!"

"I want to go home!"

The two children suddenly started crying, and the people kneeling on the ground turned their heads away. Although they also felt that the two children were pitiful, they had to sacrifice them for the sake of the entire Qiantingzi Township.

"Hurry up~ If you miss the time, which one of you will suffer?" the Taoist threatened

"Stop~stop~!" A shout interrupted the Taoist priest and caused everyone to look back.I saw a woman in her thirties running over from the side. "Give me back my child~!"

Several villagers hurried up to grab the woman, and some even covered her mouth with their hands to prevent her from yelling.

The Taoist stared, and shouted: "Major Yang, the poor Taoist has said before that praying for rain is a sacred thing, and women must not participate. Now this woman actually ran over. Isn't this trying to offend the Dragon Lord?" gone?"

The man in the long coat who was called the head of the sheep village hurriedly waved, "Take her away!"

The Taoist looked at the dry well pretendingly, sighed, and said: "It's too late, this woman has bumped into the Dragon Lord, and the Dragon Lord left in anger. Your Qiantingzi Xiangxiang is hopeless."

Hearing this, the village head Yang was angry and frightened, and stepped forward quickly, and slapped the woman twice, "Bitch, you're going to kill the whole village."

The woman turned a blind eye to the two slaps, all her mind was on the two children.The two children also cried and shouted for their mother and to go home.