Chastity Layman

  Chapter 287 Hoe and Ridang Noon

  Apricot yellow in June.

  It is the season of wheat harvest.

   Eight hundred miles away, Qinchuan finally ushered in a harvest season.

  At this time, from south to north, from east to west, the waves of wheat seem to turn golden overnight, sweeping across the entire Weihe River. The court attaches great importance to this year's wheat harvest.

  The emperor brought the empress, prince, prime minister, civil and military officials, to the field under the Si Nong Temple in the southern suburbs to hold an autumn harvest ceremony.

Li Shimin took the sickle from Shangshu Zuofu Shefang Xuanling and cut off the first bunch of wheat himself. Empress Changsun bent down and tied the wheat cut by the emperor into bundles. Crown Prince Chengqian picked up the bunch of wheat and handed it over. Shoot Du Ruhui to the right servant. Du Ruhui handed him to Si Nong Siqing.

  The cuckoo was in the far field, crying hopelessly, and also came to join in the fun.

Li Shimin cut a row of wheat in one breath, straightened his waist, covered in sweat, he supported his waist, and said to Qin Lang next to him, "I used to wear armor and armor for long-distance raids and fight without getting tired, but now I can't bear to cut a row of wheat." .”

  Qin Lang picked up the sweat towel around his neck and wiped the sweat off his face, feeling a little helpless.

   This is just for show. Who is to blame if you insist on cutting so much so seriously.

  Not to mention that Li Shimin is not used to harvesting wheat, even if he is so young, it is too much for him to bend over to cut a ridge in the wheat field in this hot weather and without wind.

  In all crops, the maturity period of wheat should be the shortest.

  When the apricot is yellow, the wheat is ripe, that is, around half a month in early June, if the harvest is not done quickly, the wheat grains will burst and fall off the ground. If it rains, the wheat that has not been harvested in time will sprout, and the people call it sprouted wheat.

  Even if the sprouted wheat is taken back, the taste of the food after grinding the noodles is extremely poor. The rolled noodles are not chewy enough, and the baked pancakes can be made into a whole sheet.

   "Your Majesty, go drink some water."

Li Shimin put away his sickle, although he was a little bit unwilling to admit defeat, but he really couldn't take it anymore. The emperor didn't last long, but after taking the throne, he spent more time in the palace and government affairs, which made his body a little bit overwhelmed by the scorching sun. up.

   This land belongs to Si Nong Temple, and of course it was cultivated by the emperor himself in name.

  In the autumn, the emperor did help the plow to plow the land, and in the spring he also came to grind the wheat seedlings, but this was only a nominal plowing.

  The symbolic meaning is greater than the actual meaning, just like the empress Changsun raised silkworms and weaved cloth in the harem like the queens of all dynasties.

  Li Shimin returned to the shade of the tree with a bunch of wheat in his hands, and Empress Changsun quickly poured tea.

  Just now the emperor was cutting wheat in front, and the empress led the princesses to glean wheat ears behind.

   "Your Majesty, the ears of wheat are growing well this year, and there should be a good harvest."

Qin Lang also held a handful of ears of wheat in his hand. The wheat in this field can be said to be an experimental field. The best wheat seeds were selected, cultivated intensively, never lacking in water, and horse manure from Taipu Temple was used. , plus plant ash, so of course the wheat in this field grows well, and the ears of wheat are heavy, but this cannot be said to be a common situation.

  The wheat of the common people outside is by no means so good.

  But this year's summer harvest, at least the wheat harvest in Guanzhong is bumper.

   Li Shimin picked up the teacup and drank a few swigs, feeling much more at ease.

"Yeah, I'm finally looking forward to a good harvest season. Last year, there were constant disasters. This year, when the crops were not harvested, it was really hard. Fortunately, we survived. According to the statistics of the court, the number of people who starved to death in Guanzhong was less than one tenth of the previous years, and there were no large numbers of people fleeing famine. Phenomenon."

  When Li Shimin said this, he was a little proud.

   After all, in the ninth year of Wude, the people of Guanzhong fled to the Kanto to flee famine every year. Every year, the government would count a large number of people who starved to death due to famine.

  Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui are now divided into left and right servants, and today they are also wearing short clothes, straw sandals, and straw hats, looking like old country farmers.

   "Your Majesty, the Taishi Bureau said that there may be rain in the near future, so we have to hurry up to harvest the wheat, and we have to talk to God."

Li Shimin nodded, "Sanlang also mentioned to me before that there will be a long summer harvest holiday, and each office will have a 15-day holiday, and the Chongxian Hall of the Guozijian will also be closed, so that everyone can go home to help harvest the wheat. Officials have to go to the countryside, Supervise the summer harvest. We must ensure that the hard-won wheat will be returned to the warehouse."

  Wheat ripened overnight, and everyone was rushing to harvest it.

  At such a time, every family, men, women and children, joined the battle, and the landlords and wealthy families offered generous conditions early on to recruit and hire temporary wheat harvesters everywhere.

   Meaty meat that is usually reluctant to eat, must be prepared at this time.

   When you come, you don’t care about eating enough, you have to prepare some wine and meat.

   At this time, Maikes can be seen everywhere in Guanzhong. Because of the barrenness of Hexi, Longyou, and Shangluo mountainous areas, many people will leave their homes to harvest wheat in other places during the wheat harvest.

  By the end of May, their family members had already started packing for them, prepared bedding and dry food, and most importantly a sharp sickle, which was a tool for them to earn food when they robbed the sky.

  In this field today, the emperor and the officials are just like the landlord's family and the Mai Ke.

The emperor symbolically cut a row of wheat in the field, and then sat in the shade of a tree to rest, pointing out the country, and talking about this year’s harvest. They also ran back to the shade of the trees. For them, this is more like an outing, a fun game, and a fresh picture is fine, but if it is really a day of picking wheat ears in the scorching sun, they will be cut by the wheat awns and pricked by the wheat tips. , they are extremely reluctant.

   And the princes, led by the prince, each carried several bundles of wheat ears.

  The prime ministers and princes also put on short clothes and pretended to be in the field for a while, and then they all sat and discussed with the emperor in the shade of a tree.

  In the field, those who are actually harvesting, tying, and picking wheat are the imperial guards and military officers trained by the emperor.

  Although all of these people have rough and bad craftsmanship, they are large in number, and if each person has a handful of wheat, a large piece of land will be cut off.

But if you look at it from the old Mai Ke's point of view, few of these people are qualified. If you really use a sickle to get work, you probably won't be able to get enough food. They are also smart, they are just a few farmers per acre of land, and they have calculated how much money or grain they will receive per acre of land.

  The scorching sun baked the earth, and the empty wheat fields were exposed to the scorching sun without any cover.

  The sun bakes the earth, and it also bakes the macs. The high temperature and sweltering heat make the macs sweat profusely.

   Sweat fell drop by drop.

  In the shade over there.

  The emperor suddenly became interested, and made a poem about Xia Harvest, and asked everyone to echo it.

  So you played a song and I played a song. Everyone improvised on the spot and created many excellent works.

  Even the little fat man Li Tai, who was renamed King of Yue not long ago, hurriedly composed a poem, which attracted the praise of the emperor and officials.

   "Chengqian, you also write a poem!"

  Li Shimin named the prince.

   Chengqian thought for a long time just now, but after trying for a long time, he couldn't come up with a decent poem.

   Hearing the emperor's words, he couldn't help being stunned.

  Yue King Li Taizhuyu is in front, if he can't come up with the first poem on the stage, it will be a shame.

   But the more anxious he became, the more he couldn't figure it out, he couldn't help but look at Qin Lang beside him.

  Qin Lang didn't expect the emperor to come to an impromptu poetry meeting, but seeing Cheng Qian's appearance, he knew that he was in trouble. Seeing that Cheng Qian was going to be overwhelmed by Li Tai today, Qin Lang had no choice but to bite the bullet and stand up.

   "Your Majesty, just now His Highness tried to compose a poem, and let the ministers help to comment and polish it. I think it is very good. It is better for the ministers to recite it to His Majesty and all the ministers."

   "Oh, I didn't expect Cheng Qian to finish the poem so quickly, so let's recite it and listen to it."

   "The title of the poem is pity for farmers!"

   "At noon on the day of hoeing, the sweat dripped and the soil fell, but who knew that the food on the plate was hard work."

  Qin Lang finished reciting aloud.

  The field suddenly became quiet.

   Only the breeze blowing through the treetops, shaking the rustling of leaves.

   Obviously, everyone was blown away by the poem.

   After all, the prince is only nine years old. Although this poem seems simple, it has a very high intention.

   "Good! Great poem!"

  Uncle Guo, who resigned from the prime minister not long ago, is now applauding loudly for Kaifuyi Tong Sansi, the prince and grand master Zhao Guogong's eldest Sun Wuji.

   "Your Majesty, the prince's poem is so well written."

  The corners of Li Shimin's mouth rose, and he finally laughed too.

"It is indeed a good poem. Chengqian's poem is good. It is very suitable for the occasion. It also shows the hard work of farmers in farming and reminds everyone of the preciousness of food. What is even more rare is the compassion for farmers revealed in the poetry. Heart, great kindness!"

  Little fat man Li Tai pouted.

  He and Li Chengqian studied together in the Chongxian Hall, and got along almost day and night. He didn't know that literature was not Chengqian's director. Such a good poem is not a bit better than the one he made just now, and it can't be compared at all. He never believes that this is Cheng Qian's poem.

  He immediately became suspicious of Qin Lang.

   "Scholar Qin, come and write a poem too. Many of your poems before, Scholar Qin, are extremely famous."

  As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at Qin Lang.

   "Huailiang, you have a song too."

  Qin Lang looked at the little fat man, this little guy is really a big man, he deliberately showed off just now, and now he wants to run on him, at such a young age, is it possible that he has already started to have thoughts about the crown prince?

   "Your Majesty, please think about it."

   "Scholar Qin, why don't you write a poem about pity for farmers?" Li Tai was still reluctant.

   "Okay, then I will show my shame. Plant a grain of millet in the spring and harvest ten thousand seeds in the autumn. There will be no idle fields in the world, and the five grains will be more abundant!"

  Originally, the last sentence should be that there is no idle land in the world, and the farmers are still starving to death.

  However, on this occasion, such a critical verse is obviously not in line with the theme, so in the end Qin Lang had to change one sentence.

  The ancients called a good harvest a good harvest, and three consecutive years of harvest are called climbing, two climbing is called flat, and three climbing is called Taiping.

  Therefore, in ancient times, it was extremely rare to have a bumper harvest of five grains. Only six consecutive bumper years could be called Ping, and nine consecutive bumper years could be called Taiping.

   "Okay, this song of compassion for farmers is also very good, I deserve a reward!" Li Shimin stroked his beard and praised.

  (end of this chapter)