In the sixth month of Xia, the Wei clan of Jin, Anyi.

Drought knows no borders. The dry north wind blows from the north and evaporates all the cumulonimbus clouds. Wei's territory, like Zhao's, has been in drought for almost two months.

The sun is shining brightly, there are no clouds in the sky, the land for hundreds of miles is dry and cracked, and the peasants are frowning.

At the same time, the water in the salt pond is also drying up day by day, and the large white salt mines are exposed on the surface, making it easier to mine. Therefore, in contrast to the frustration of farmers, salt miners are very happy. Salt mining is a local pillar industry, and some clans have used it for generations. When needed, the whole family, young and old, will go into battle to dig out the salt blocks, knock them into small pieces that are easy to transport, and then send them to the Yanguan.

This afternoon, the daughter of the Yan family hurried past the Yanchi. She was dressed in rough clothes and did not drag on the floor. She wore an apron that covered her knees. She held a few pots. The water is cloudy, and the wells near the salt pond are all salty. She has to run a long way to the river to scoop up the river water for her father and brother to drink. They also sprinkle a little salt into it before drinking, so that It is less prone to fatigue and weakness, and it can also avoid diarrhea.

On the dry salt flat, her tanned father, working shirtless and tanned, raised his head to drink water. The Yan family's daughter swallowed her dry throat and said softly to him: "Father, the fields at home are dry, and the millets are dying. If there is no harvest in autumn, what should I do..."

His father put down the clay pot and gave her a stern look: "So what if all the grains are dead? Our food, clothing, housing and transportation are all in this salt field. As long as the old man can still pick up salt, you will not starve to death!"

Salt workers use salt as their business, but they have more or less land to grow self-sufficient food.

The Yan family's daughter lowered her head, bit her lip, and did not dare to reply again, "There is an extra mouth for free food at home", this is how her father has treated her for the past five years...

Although she wears shabby clothes, she has her own style in her eyebrows and looks like a young woman, but her hair is curled up, which means she is married or has been married before. She does not dare to talk about it herself, and her parents are also tight-lipped , do not want to mention it to outsiders.

Yan's daughter's mother felt sorry for her, so she walked over to her husband timidly and persuaded her: "If the drought continues, the price of food in Anyi will be so high that we can't afford it."

The old salt worker ignored his wife and daughter, wiped his sweat, raised his **** and resumed mining. Finally, the eldest brother next to him came over and said, "I heard that Wei Qing is going to set up an altar by the salt pond to ask for rain. Let's go and have a look, maybe follow along and kowtow together, and the rain master will be soft-hearted and rain..."

...

Beside the Yanchi in Anyi, on the tall altar, Wei Manduo, the suzerain of the Wei clan, was in deep clothes and wide sleeves. Under the guidance of Wu Zhu, he reverently climbed up the altar slowly. Everyone was watching, and countless people of the Wei family crawl under the altar, looking eagerly at their lord begging for rain.

At the top of the altar is a wooden statue, depicting a lifelike black-bearded strong man.

This is Chisongzi, the rain master in charge of rainfall in Chinese mythology. Legend has it that he was a subordinate of the Yellow Emperor and made extraordinary achievements in the battle with Chiyou.

In order to pray for rain today, Wei Mando, the head of the Wei family, fasted for three days, and asked Wu Zhu to find the dragon's residence in the territory. After finding a suitable location, they recruited thousands of people from Anyi and Quwo to build a high altar, set up incense tables, tea fruits, and glutinous rice baits. The villagers worship and pray all day long, praying for God's mercy and rain to save lives.

"Haotian is merciful, please also let the rain master bring down the rain!" Weimanduo shouted hoarsely, reaching Jiutian.

However, the heavens were speechless and showed no mercy, and ignored their prayers. Although the sacrifices have been performed for several days, the only thing is to kill the living, but more than ten days have passed, and the water in the Hedong area has not fallen. struggling...

And because the Qin people were obsessed after they lost Hexi, they sent troops to harass them every month, so the Wei family had to maintain their troops in Hexi. Therefore, the taxes on the territory have not been reduced or exempted. The people of the Wei family have to bear the losses of natural disasters, and at the same time, they have to bear the heavy taxes imposed by humans, which is extremely miserable. They can only hope that in another month or so, after harvesting the corn from the fields, half of last year's harvest will be good.

Although there is not much left after paying the taxes, at least I can cook a few bowls of porridge and last until next year, right?

The situation on Han's side is similar, except that Guo and Yiyang to the south of the Dahe are less affected, so the east wall can be demolished to make up for the west wall.

Under Duan Gui's suggestion, Han Hu adopted the method of "immigrants eat food". Unlike the spontaneously formed wave of refugees, immigration was a disaster relief method in which the governments of successive dynasties organized disaster-stricken people to go to areas with relatively better conditions for food. When King Hui of Wei and Mencius said in their dialogue, "If Hanoi is fierce, then its people will be moved to Hedong, and its millet will be moved to Hanoi, and the same is true of Hedong."

Therefore, Han Hu can also say aggrievedly, "I am in the country, and I have done my best to listen to it"!

For a time, the people of Han's Shangdang and several counties went south to eat outside the river, and they also hoped that the land outside the river would have a good harvest during the autumn harvest. Other than that, there were not many measures.

At the same time, in the Zhao family, a mobilization meeting was being held in the Linzhang Academy.

...

"Today, I want to tell you something from the past."

In the Linzhang Academy, Zhao Wuxi looked at the group of officials and scholars present, and said loudly: "In the seventeenth year of Duke Zhao of the State of Lu, Wu Zhu, who was in charge of the Kitchen Temple in the State of Zheng, told the ruling Zichan that in the next year, The Song, Wei, Chen, and Zheng kingdoms will have a fire on the same day, and if we can sacrifice to the gods with the cymbals and jade jars, the Zheng kingdom will surely be able to extinguish the fire."

"But Zichan didn't believe it and didn't give him these things. In May of the second year, Song, Wei, Chen, and Zheng all caught fire. Although it wasn't the same day, Zheng people already believed this Wu Zhu's words. That Wu Zhu was triumphant and prophesied, saying that if there was no more use of treasures to sacrifice to the gods, Zheng Guo would suffer another disaster. The people of Zheng hoped that Zichan would obey, but Zichan refused again. You know, he said something. What?"

There were many scholars from the Academy, even if they were a white man when they came, after immersing in the Shiqu Pavilion of the Academy for several years, they also became scholars, and someone responded immediately.

"Zichan said, Heaven is far away, and humanity is far away!"

"That's right." Zhao Wuxi nodded and repeated: "The way of heaven is far away, and the way of humanity is close, the two are irrelevant. How can a little witch who is in charge of the kitchen club understand the way of heaven? How to know the way of humanity from the way of heaven? That's right. So Zichan didn't give him the treasure, and the fire in Zheng Kingdom was easily extinguished, and there was no more disaster."

He said earnestly and earnestly: "The reason why Zheng Guo's disaster relief was successful was not because there were gods to remove them for them, but because Zichan was in front of the disaster and made the best of manpower. After the fire broke out, he arranged for the palace people to go to the fire. In the places that cannot be reached, let the masters, Zikuan and Zishang, inspect the sacrificial places and the ancestral temple of Zheng State, and let the officials who manage the treasury stick to their posts and are not allowed to leave their posts without permission. Take care of the conscripts they recruited so that they don’t escape. After that, they registered the houses that were burned down, reduced or exempted the homeowners’ taxes, and distributed timber for them to rebuild, and searched for hidden areas and demolished them for relocation.”

"In this way, although Song, Wei, Chen, and Zheng caught fire at the same time, the monarchs of Chen and Wei were slack in disaster relief, and the Song monarch pinned his hopes on the protection of the gods. Restoring prosperity. Zichan governs the country, although there are many opportunities without losing its rationale, it is amazing!"

Everyone nodded and said yes, Zhao Shangqing highly respected Guan Zhong and Zichan. This is a well-known thing.

The reason why such a mobilization meeting is held is to stabilize people's hearts. As the disaster spreads in Zhao's territory, there are already some places where shrines are revived, and there are even disgruntled public clansmen. Zhi, Fan, and Bank of China are hiding. The remnants of the people preached that the reason for the disaster was Zhao Wuxi's sin of tying Jinquan alone.

In the face of these rumors, Zhao Wuxi did not intend to step down and return to power in the Marquis of Jin. He issued a notice, announcing that "not the common people are guilty, but the boy is unscrupulous". If Zhao Wuxi is really guilty, please go to heaven to punish one person, don't affect the people.

After he made his gestures, internally, he held this mobilization meeting in a school that did not believe in ghosts and gods, and openly denied the relationship between natural disasters and the so-called "virtue"!

At this time, he was very grateful for the birth of his son. Fortunately, Gongsun Qiao had already set an example, and Zhao Wuxi was not the first person to take the world seriously.

Finally, Wu Xing looked at everyone and said, "So, natural disasters have nothing to do with virtue, how can we be inferior to our predecessors!?"

"Your Highness is right."

Looking at the scholars of the palace who agreed with his words~lightnovelpub.net~ Zhao Wuxi further said: "So, think about it in the sky, and make it with things and animals!"

He borrowed the words of the later Xunzi, and proposed that instead of blindly believing in God and succumbing to fate, it is better to treat it as a thing, control it, and use it according to it!

This was something Zhao Wuxi wanted the officials, scholars and people of the Zhao clan to realize.

Heaven is far away, human beings are narrow, and the era of ignorance has passed. People should not passively adapt to nature, but should also actively transform nature. People will definitely conquer heaven!

This is the purpose of this disaster relief, and it is also something Zhao Wuxi hopes the scholars of the Academy will keep firmly in mind.

Only with this kind of mentality can we open up a great and unprecedented civilization in the spring and autumn when ignorance and desolation coexist...

So, while the lords of the neighboring country, the lords and doctors, sacrificed to ghosts and gods day and night, waiting passively, hoping to impress the gods with rain in the morning, Zhao, under the slogan of "man will conquer the sky", mobilized the territorial group and began to actively organize disaster relief.

PS: Chapter 2 opens a new URL at 12 o'clock (to be continued.)