Chapter 118: New Year’s Eve

A "crackling" sound came from the distance of the long street, and then groups of naughty children flocked to each other, tearing and fighting, making noises.

There are many people on the street, shoulder to shoulder, everyone is wearing clean clothes. Rich families with better conditions are wearing new clothes, and those without conditions are wearing the best clothes at home, and everyone has a smile on their faces.

The streets have been cleaned up, and red lanterns are hung on both sides of the shops, making them look very happy. Whether it is a wine shop, a teahouse, an inn, a medicine shop, or a grocery shop, they are all in high spirits to deal with the tide of crowds.

Among the crowd, there was a pair of young men and women shopping particularly eye-catching. The man was handsome, with long and handsome bodies, and the woman had bright eyes and white teeth. It was Zhou Yu and Xiao Yuer. Behind them, Pan Hu led several personal guards in casual clothes, following them both in case of accidents.

"Brother Yu, someone is setting off firecrackers in front, let's go and have a look." Xiao Yuer stretched out her white finger and pointed forward and said excitedly. Without waiting for Zhou Yu to answer, Xiao Yuer pulled Zhou Yu's arm to the front.

When they arrived at the firecrackers, they saw a few young people burning a longer bamboo pole piece by piece, making continuous explosions, and the sound was very loud. Some of the naughty boys watching around covered their ears with their hands, while others danced and said loudly: "Oh~ The plague god runs~~ The plague god runs~~"

Zhou Yu couldn't help laughing. In his impression, the firecrackers in later generations would be shocking once they were set off, and they also developed into dazzling fireworks. The various giant firework combinations set off at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics were dazzling and deeply shocking.

The firecrackers in the late Eastern Han Dynasty were extremely simple. Because there was no gunpowder, people burned bamboo with fire to make it burst and make sound in order to achieve the purpose of expelling the plague god.

Zhou Yu smiled at Xiao Yuer teasingly and said, "This is a real "firecracker."

Xiaoyuer stuck out her tongue mischievously and laughed, "How is it? It's fun. Today is New Year's Eve, and you are still busy there. Even if you become a prefect, you have to have fun with the people, right?"

Zhou Yu smiled bitterly and said, "Oh, there is no way. The entrustedness of the prefect Lu is as heavy as Mount Tai. Now the entire Lujiang County is in a state of chaos and time is endless."

"Hmph~ I know that I'm busy with this all day, and life is not all about work. So, if you refuse to come, I will drag you over, which will make you relax." Xiao Yuer said angrily.

"Okay, I promise you that you will spend more time with you, okay?" Zhou Yu comforted Xiao Yu'er, and the smile on his face immediately melted Xiao Yu'er's anger.

"Okay... you have to keep your word." Xiaoyu'er's eyes were shiny and full of expectations.

The two looked at each other, and Zhou Yu nodded heavily.

"Brother Yu, look, the peach talismans in that family are really exquisite." Xiao Yuer suddenly pointed, then pulled Zhou Yu to the door of a house.

This house is the residence of a wealthy family. The thick solid wood door costs a lot of money at a glance. There are three-level bluestone steps in front of the door. Two large pieces of peach wood hung on both sides of the door. There are each of them with a ferocious look on them. They hold a broad-blade sword and are trying to cut.

The little fisher moved his lotus steps lightly. Before the gate, he gently stroked the peach talisman with his fair fingers and sighed: "Every year during the Chinese New Year, I see peach talismans hanging at people's doors, but I don't know what it means. My father told me that it was used to suppress evil and exorcise ghosts and pray for blessings and bring good fortune, but why do you want to draw such a ferocious and ugly portrait?"

Zhou Yu smiled and replied, "You don't know this. Let me tell you a story. According to legend, there is a big peach tree on Dushuo Mountain in the East China Sea. The trunk is bent and stretched for three thousand miles, and the branches are stretched to the northeast Ghost Gate. The ghosts living in the caves at the Ghost Gate come in and out every day. Under the tree, there are two gods: Shentu and Yulei. As long as these two gods find evil ghosts that harm people, they will tie them up with nets made of reeds and throw them to feed a tiger. Since King Wen of Zhou, every New Year Festival, the people have used two six-inch-long and three-inch-wide peach wood boards to draw images of the two gods or names on them, hanging them on both sides of the gate or bedroom door to suppress evil and drive away ghosts, pray for blessings and bring good fortune. This is the peach talisman."

Xiaoyuer tapped her head and added, "By the way, I remembered that my mother would draw the ghost-eating tiger on the second door of her house, and there was a reed rope next to it. At that time, I was wondering why I wanted to draw a tiger."

The two of them were talking and laughing all the way, and Zhou Yu suddenly remembered a poem that suited the scene very well, so he chanted in a low voice:

"A year has passed by the sound of firecrackers, and the spring breeze brings warmth to the people. Thousands of households and thousands of households always replace the old charms with new peaches."

On New Year's Eve, thousands of lights in Shu County were filled with a cheerful festive atmosphere. The people gathered at home to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.

The Zhou family mansion was also very lively. In addition to the brothers Zhou Dao, Zhou Yu and Zhou Hui, Zhou's mother sent someone to invite Zhou Yu's sworn brothers Gan Ning and Zang Ba. In addition to the Sun Ce family who stayed in Shu County, everyone gathered together, laughing and laughing.

Zhou's mother was extremely happy tonight. She saw that Zhou Yu had become more stable and mature after more than a year of experience. She is now the prefect of Lujiang County, with a lot of talents, especially the measures such as the construction of water conservancy, military farming system, supporting industry and commerce, setting up academies, and recruitment halls in Lujiang, which have made the entire Lujiang look new and showed an unprecedented development trend.

However, Zhou's mother still had a major concern. Seeing that everyone was having fun chatting, she waved to Zhou Yu to come over and said softly in Zhou Yu's ear: "Yuer, you are not young anymore, it's time to consider a lifelong event."

Zhou Yu waved his hand and said, "Mother, this matter is not urgent, it's still early. Besides, the world is in chaos now, and there will be chaos in the world. I still have a lot of things to do, but I really don't have the intention."

Zhou’s mother glared at Zhou Yu when she heard this and said angrily: “What? You don’t listen to me anymore? Is it hard for a man to get married first and then start a career. This is very normal. Don’t worry, someone is anxious! You have been childhood sweethearts since you were a child, and your relationship is so good, don’t delay others. I think this matter is settled. In a few days, I will send someone to propose marriage and get married within next year!”

Zhou Yu was still trying to defend himself, but a beautiful figure suddenly flashed in his mind, graceful and graceful smile, and his heart was throbbing. Suddenly, the man's smile turned into a sad face, and cried like a pear blossom with rain, scolding himself: "Good you, Zhou Yu!"...

Seeing Zhou Yu's expression dumbfounded, Zhou's mother thought he had agreed, so she patted him on the shoulder and said, "Little Fisher is such a good girl, and it's hard to find a lantern. I have liked her very much since she was a child. When you get married, I want you to have a grandson for me as soon as possible. Haha."

Before Zhou's mother finished speaking, a little boy suddenly jumped out from her and seemed to be hiding beside her and eavesdropping on her. But seeing this man with purple beard and blue eyes, eyes with bright eyes, big square chin, and a strange appearance, the little boy jumped all the way and clapped his hands and shouted, "I want to have a grandson~~ I want to have a grandson~~"

Zhou Yu couldn't help but laugh and cried, and strode after him and said, "Sun Quan, you little brat, don't yell..."

It's late at night and people are quiet.

The entire Shu County is in a deep sleep.

Zhou Yu was staring at a map on the wall in his study. The paper used for this map was white, tough and thick. Zhou Yu asked Zhou Hui to send someone to make it specially in the papermaking workshop. Then Zhou Yu asked Xiao Yuer to enlarge it and draw it on the silk map of Lujiang County.

On this map, the fourteen counties under Lujiang County, including Shu County, Linhu, Xiang'an, Juchao, Wan County, Xunyang, Longshu, Lu'an, Anfeng, Qian County, Yulou, Yangquan, Liao County, Tongyang, etc., are marked very clearly, as well as mountains, rivers and passes in Lujiang County. Although they are much worse than later satellite maps, they are also very detailed in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

Facing the entire Lujiang County, Zhou Yu found that the biggest problem he faced was the lack of talents. Although his subsistence could be regarded as a wealth of talents, including Chen Gong, Kan Ze, Yuan Huan, Zhang Cheng, Zhang Fan, Liu Jun, Pei Xuan, Zhou Hui, Zhou Dao and others, and Wang Yue, Gan Ning, Zang Ba, Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin, Xu Sheng, Ding Feng, Pan Hu and others, there were no internal affairs talents who could all be equipped with overall capabilities, so Zhou Yu would be very tired and would have to do many things himself. At present, the stalls in Lujiang County are much larger than those in Juchao, and the situation is much more complicated. What you can do in Juchao cannot be simply promoted, and you have to do a lot of meticulous work.

Cultivating farms, building water conservancy, supporting industry and commerce, culture and education, every thing is a major event and an important factor that will affect the foundation. These tasks must be carried out in parallel in the entire Lujiang County, and how many capable talents are needed.

Dong Zhuo took the emperor hostage and retreated to Chang'an. The powerful people from all over the Guandong, and the county magistrates showed their faces that they wanted to achieve their grand plans and stand on their own. The attacks between them had begun. There was Zhou Mao, the prefect of Jiujiang County in the north. His family was the Kuaiji clan, Liu Biao, the governor of Jingzhou to the west, Wu County to the east, and Danyang County to the south. Since Lu Kang's death, they have been eyeing Lujiang and trapped in the camp, Dong County Camp, Feilong Army, Scout Camp, and Jinfan soldiers with limited numbers, and they all had to recruit new soldiers. This is a necessary measure to protect the country and safeguard the people.

"The swan can lift far away because it has wings, and the dragon can leaps and leaps are the scales and squids; the man who can rule the king is the wise men and assists him. Those who govern the world must rely on talents."

Zhou Yu thought of the internal affairs experts in history: Zhuge Liang, Ju Su, Chen Qun, Xun Yu, Zhang Zhao... How cool it would be if he could have all these talents...

Talent, talent, in fact, what you lack the most at any time is talent.
Chapter completed!