Chapter 31: Strange Travel (2)

The emperor was just saying this, and a man's voice sounded outside, "Hu Zi? Hu Zi!"

"Dad!" The boy's voice rang out, the door opened, and the child ran out, "Dad, are you back? Did you beat any prey?"

"Isn't this?" You can guess just by hearing the man's smug voice. This trip has gained a lot, "Dad, is this a fox?"

"It's... Huh? Why are there so many horses in the yard? Hu Zi, what's going on?"

"Someone came to stay. My mother asked them to live in the woodshed. Oh, someone gave his son gold!"

"Gold?" the male owner asked in surprise, "Where is it?"

"I gave it to my mother."

The male owner was silent for a moment, handed over the captured prey to his son, walked straight to the door of the woodshed, reached out and knocked, "Is anyone there?"

Sushun stood up and opened the door. A man with a very strong figure stood outside, with thick eyebrows and a kind smile, looking inward curiously, "I think this guy is just Guiju, right? How dare you ask?"

The man couldn't understand what he said about the slander, but he understood the next half of the sentence, "My name is Chen Shenghao, this is Chenjia Town. Are you?"

"Oh, my surname is Su." Sushun said temporarily, "My master likes the scenery of Dujiu Valley and takes us here to explore the scenery. Unexpectedly, he missed Guantou and encountered wind and snow again, so he went to your residence to visit him. If there are many disturbances, please do not blame him."

"You mean, don't be accustomed, right?" After Su Shun's affirmative reply, Chen Shenghao grinned and smiled, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, right? Besides, such weather and such things are inevitable. By the way, have you ever used supper?"

It would be fine if Chen Shenghao didn't mention it. Once he mentioned it, he suddenly felt like thunder from the emperor! "It's just that you haven't used it. If you don't dislike it, can you use supper with me? But there is nothing good, it's always okay to just fill your stomach."

When he reached this point, Su Shun could not help being polite, "Then, thank you." He added, "When we leave tomorrow morning, we will definitely pay more."

"What kind of reward is not rewarded? People in the mountains don't talk about this!"

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The supper was chopped cabbage, with potatoes, radishes, and cornmeal and sorghum noodles. Although it was dry and unpalatable, it was easy for hungry people to eat. Everyone still ate a round belly. The child named Hu Zi took out a few sweet potatoes from the cellar and threw them into the stove. When the soup was cooked and everyone was full, the sweet potatoes were roasted. Peeled the crispy and dark melon peel, revealing the yellow melon meat inside, and a sweet fragrance rushed into the nose tube. Everyone also forgot their identity and started eating without regard for their demeanor.

The emperor didn't eat too much, but he didn't think it was unpalatable. He just felt cold all over and had joint pain, and he knew he was going to get sick. He could barely sit there, talking to Chen Shenghao indifferently, "My brother hunting in the mountains, and what he got every day is enough for the whole family to water it?"

“…………”

"I mean, is the money you earn enough to spend?"

"It depends on whether God is rewarding him. It's like today, if you beat a fox, you can get it to the county town tomorrow and exchange it for five cents of silver dollars. In one or two days, you will have a trap. If you only hit one or two hares, there will be not that many."

The emperor found it strange that silver dollars are issued, and they are counted in pounds. How is it called five cents? If you ask again, you will feel unbearable. You hold your cheeks and say nothing. Su Shun saw that he was curious and said on the other hand, "Master, five cents silver dollars are half a pound of silver dollars. People do not understand this Western name, and they still call it the common method of the agreement."

He nodded, showing his understanding. He asked again, "Then, can you buy a lot of things for five cents of silver dollars?"

"Buy a few kilograms of salt, pull two or three feet of flower cloth for the child's mother, and buy some medicine, and it's almost done." Medicine is the ammunition required for the musket, Chen Shenghao said, "The hunters in the mountains are not good without these things."

The emperor covered his mouth with his hands and coughed a few times, "I see that your diet at home is mostly vegetarian dishes. Do you have no money to buy meat?"

"If you say eating meat, it's just a few days during the Chinese New Year, and you'll be able to buy it for your children. On a normal day, who can't buy it? One pound of pork costs two cents. Think about it, if you get a fox, who can eat it if you only have two pounds of pork?"

The emperor felt very sad. This was the Changping County area, which is only dozens of miles away from Beijing. People could not even eat a meal of pork? What a miserable scene in Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other provinces that are commonly known as barren? After years of hard work, it seems that they have all fallen into nothing! It turns out that after twenty years of hard work, even letting the people eat a bite of meat became a luxury! Such a thought flashed through his mind, and he felt even more a headache. He didn't even have the interest to speak for a while.

The boy named Hu Zi heard that his father and others were all pork and pork. The child swallowed his saliva dryly, "Dad, when will you let your son eat meat? It's delicious."

"Wait until the New Year. During the New Year, Dad will buy you meat to eat."

"Oh." The child nodded sensibly and stopped asking, "Then, Dad, when will you take your son to Yuxu Temple and ask for a visa for your mother?"

"Well, wait for tomorrow. The weather is better tomorrow. Dad will take you to the temple and ask the old god to ask your mother for a peace talisman to bless your mother as healthy as before."

The emperor felt sad, and he was not interested in such conversations at all, nor had the energy to ask. However, Su Shun liked this kind of gossip the most in his life, and couldn't help but ask, "What old gods and peace talismans?"

"You don't know yet? A few years ago, an old god came to Yuxu Temple, not far from the city. He was known as Xiandao Master. He is the most powerful in fortune-telling! Moreover, I heard that this person has the ability to call the wind and rain. Do you still remember that in the 14th year of Xianfeng, there was a severe drought in the northwest? It is said that this old god chanted a spell and prayed for rain before helping the people overcome this disaster. Because of the Yidao Master, the incense in Yuxu Temple is very strong! Now, the child is sick, and Hu Zi asked me to ask his mother for a peace sign!"

"I'm afraid this is wrong?" Su Shun asked in confusion, "I live in Beijing. It is said that the northwest drought in the 14th year of Xianfeng was a severe drought, and the emperor personally gave the iron plate on Heilong Mountain in Handan, and he was the only one who successfully asked for rain. How did he count as the head of this old Taoist?"

This is the old thing back then. In the 14th year of Xianfeng, the northwestern provinces and the capital area had a long drought and no rain. From March of that year, the sun was scorching like fire every day, and occasionally there was a light thunder and a few light rain. Even the nine-mo world could not moisten, so it naturally did not help the farmland of Turtle. Not only did this year's harvest be hopeless, but next year's days were probably sad. Henan Nanyang, Xinyang, Luoshan, Xiangcheng, Xuchang, Lanfeng, Kaocheng, and even Liangshanbo, drought has become a problem.

The emperor knew that this kind of thing was not something that humans could resist, but was so annoyed by the subjects that he had no choice but to pray for rain. In the end, someone came up with a bad idea: find a tiger's head and throw it in from the Black Dragon Pond of the West Mountain. The person who proposed this method was very polite, "Dragon, there were foolish dragons and lazy dragons, it must be because it fell asleep, and forgot to rise to the rain. Now throwing a tiger's head is like tying a monkey on a manger. If it is naughty, it will not be lazy!"

So I looked for the tiger head, but who knew there was no one? Later, I finally found one in the imperial pharmacy, and did not issue an imperial edict. I only sent two imperial guards to climb the west mountain with the tiger head and threw it in from the Black Dragon Pond. Such a confused and funny method naturally did not work at all. Who knew that the dragon and tiger did not fight and the clouds and the Nichi were not prosperous, but the people who knew the matter did not use it as a joke, and they really did not feel like telling jokes. It took a long time to drought and rain, and not to mention that there was no hope of autumn harvest, the food prices in front of me soared, and life was very difficult. In addition, in the southeast of Baoding, salt owls were found to kill and set fire, rob more than 30 villages, and the number of more than 2,000 people was bound to be as large as 800 horses and more than 200 large trucks, which made people's hearts even more fluctuate.

This method doesn't work, and there is another last strategy, which is to ask for an iron plate. This iron plate is hung in a well in the Dragon God Temple in Handan. Handan is a thousand miles away from the capital. If you run fast at night, you can arrive in three days. However, the rules for asking for a card are always on the post station. The slower the better. It is best not to invite the capital, if there is a sweet rain, it will be considered as a helping god and full of face. Therefore, this iron plate has been walking eight days on the road before reaching Liangxiang.

It was a coincidence that before the iron plate arrived, the God of Rain came first, and it was already gloomy and light rain drifted in the morning, and it did not stop all morning. In the afternoon, strong winds rose, and the black clouds became thicker and thicker, mixed with rumbling thunder, and finally it fell heavily like a heavy rain like a swelling river and sea. It fell to the night, and the people of the nine cities stared happily, looking at the white rain. But this was the case in the capital, and there was still no rain in Shanxi and other provinces. This drought lasted for two years, and it was only completely alleviated in the 16th year of Xianfeng. The only good news is that the people of the northwest provinces, in order to have a meal, fled with their families, and escaped from the customs, temporarily solved the problem of Northeast immigration that had always plagued the emperor's heart.

Today, when I heard Chen Shenghao say that this rain was actually what the old Taoist asked for, Su Shun was not angry? He leaned over to the side and whispered, "Master, have you heard it? There are such a delusional person in the world? Look, Gao Dongyuan and others are emerging again!"

The emperor was both sad, both physically and mentally, and sighed lazily, "For such a person, just turn back and let someone come to the view and take a look." He said, "I... I'm a little sleepy. Have you all rested?"

"Yes." Su Shun stood up and wanted to leave. Chen Shenghao suddenly said, "Master, if you don't dislike it, please rest in my child's room for a night, right? It's cold and sleepy in the woodshed, and you're afraid you'll get sick if you're freezing!"

"Where is the son-in-law?"

"You mean the child? It's okay, just let the child squeeze with us."

"That's too much thanks."
Chapter completed!