Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

"Xingjia, have Zixuan and Ziwen written to you recently? Did they tell you how things are going over there?"

At the Xu family, old man Xu Chengkuan was talking to Lin Xingjia. The old man was sitting on the kang, holding an eye bag in his hand, and filling his pipe with cigarettes.

"Uncle, Ziwen did write a letter a few days ago, saying that it had been raining for a long time over there. Fortunately, the embankments were rebuilt this spring, and it's said that there's nothing serious for the time being." Lin Xingjia sat on the edge of the kang and chatted with the old man.

"Alas, what kind of year is this? The rain never stops. Our area is all mountainous, so it's still a little worse, and the ground can't hold much water. You said Zixuan's area, I remember Jinghan said that the terrain there is flat, and there are many lakes and swamps. If there is water accumulation, it will be difficult to deal with." The old man lit a cigarette and took a puff. "Now that the children are there, I am so worried that I can't even sleep well. If I had known this earlier, I should have sent someone to bring Jinghan and the two little ones back. They are too careless. Zixuan is the county magistrate and can't be left easily. Ziwen should also come back."

The old man's heart, of course, is still thinking about Jinghan the most. He loves this second granddaughter the most. In the past few years, Jinghan has been away, and the old man has been talking about her a lot.

"Dad, don't worry about these things. Zixuan is a capable person, and Jinghan is not a delicate young lady. It's okay. Didn't they repair the dam in the early spring this year? It will always be useful. Haven't you heard? Now many counties are flooded, but Zhendong is still fine. These are all Zixuan's contributions. I think the local people should thank Zixuan this time." Zhixin sat on the chair and smiled to comfort his father.

"By the way, Boss, how is our ginseng field this year? With such a big flood, is there nothing wrong?" The old man thought of his own ginseng field.

"Dad, don't worry, the place we chose was not so flat to begin with, so this is an advantage, there is not much water accumulation. In addition, the families on the mountain are also diligent, the horse trail is well cleaned, and the ditches at both ends are also dug quite deep, there is nothing wrong." The magistrate smiled and told the old man about the situation on the mountain.

"It's the crops. They are a little waterlogged. There's nothing we can do about it. It's been raining for days and the ground is soaked. It's already early July and I don't think it will rain for much longer. When the weather clears up, the water in the ground will disappear quickly. Fortunately, our harvest of tussah silkworms this year is not bad and we've made a lot of money. But we've lost a lot of fungus and mushrooms this year. It's always raining and we can't pick them. We can't dry them after we pick them, so some of them rot. We can't have a good harvest every year. There's nothing we can do about it." Zhixin said it lightly, but he was actually distressed. Now, fungus and mushrooms alone can bring in several thousand taels of silver a year, so the loss is not a small amount.

"Alas, we farmers are like this, we depend on the weather for food. If the weather is bad one year, we will starve. Fortunately, we have been living well in the past few years and have surplus food. We are not afraid of such things occasionally. If it were in the past, wouldn't we starve? We might even have to flee famine." The old man couldn't help but sigh, "The climate in the north is pretty good, and it's rare to encounter such a time. I don't know what happened this year." "Xingjia, I forgot to ask you, how is the wine shop? Your place is quite close to the river." Zhixin suddenly remembered this and asked quickly. "It's okay. Didn't we think of this when we chose the place? So the wine shop was built on a high place. Besides, the wine shop is two miles away from the river. It's okay." Xingjia smiled and said it was okay. Zhixin was relieved. Although the shares of the wine shop had been given to Jinghan as a dowry, Zhixin was still very concerned. After all, this is also an industry of the Lin family, and it can make a lot of money every year. After chatting for a while, Xingjia was about to go home. The old man wanted to keep him here for dinner, but Xingjia refused. "Uncle, you know, my father has not been in good health in recent years. I am a little worried about Zixuan and others because of the rain recently. Maybe he has a fever and is not feeling well. I came to town this time, in addition to coming to see you, I also came to get medicine for my father. The rain outside is lighter now, I have to go get medicine quickly, and next time I come, I will definitely accompany you to have a drink." Xingjia was thinking about his home, so he was determined to leave. When the old man heard that he had to get medicine for Lin Xingjia's father, he naturally couldn't keep him any longer, so he could only nod, "Okay, then we have a deal, next time we come back, we must eat here. When it doesn't rain one day, I will also go around the village and visit your father. He must have been tired in the past, and now he is old, he has to do everything. Alas, this person, it is not a skill to have ability when he is young, and he must have a good physique when he is old." The old man and Lin Xingjia's father originally got along very well, so he naturally knew the root cause of the old man Lin's illness.

"That's what I said, my father often advises me not to work too hard. If he hadn't been injured when he was cutting wood in winter, he wouldn't have to take medicine all day and can't do anything now. Uncle, you should stay at home, it's wet and slippery outside, don't get hurt." Lin Xingjia held the old man down and didn't let him go to the ground.

"Boss, help me see Xing's family off. Have you put on your raincoat? Otherwise, find him an umbrella and give him an umbrella so he doesn't get wet. It's autumn now and it's getting colder day by day, so be careful." The old man sat on the kang. He didn't go up or down, so he told Zhixin.

Zhixin held up an umbrella and sent Xingjia off. Fortunately, Xingjia was wearing a raincoat when he arrived, and the rain outside was not heavy anymore. Xingjia walked all the way to the drug store.

After seeing off Xingjia, Zhixin turned around and returned to the house. "Dad, it's noon. We're just the two of us at home today. I'll let the kitchen cook whatever you want to eat." The old lady and Mrs. The old lady was worried, so she took Mr. Xue over to have a look.

"Anything is fine, it's just the two of us, we'll just make do with something to eat. I don't have the heart to eat right now. Looking at the rain outside, I feel uncomfortable in my heart. Boss, can you let one of us go to the town? Why don't you take a look? I'm really worried." The old man was particularly worried about Jinghan and couldn't help but say.

"Dad, it's not that I don't want to go, but I heard that many local roads have been washed away, and in other places rocks and other things have washed down and blocked the roads. It's best for us not to go out now and have fun along the way. If something happens, it won't be good. Zixuan and the others should be fine over there. Didn't we hear anything? Dad, don't worry. I'll wait until the rain stops in two days. Let people go and take a look." Zhixin is actually worried, but the current situation is not something they can go if they want to. So I had to persuade the old man not to worry about it and get angry.

The old man has no choice but to stop mentioning these things.

Above the Qianyuan Hall in the capital in the morning, the emperor looked at the civil and military ministers of the dynasty with anger.

"Your Majesty, there has been heavy rain in the north for a month this year, causing floods in many places in Longzhou and Shenzhou. It is said that such floods are not seen for a hundred years. Such disasters are a warning from God that the imperial court has failed in its good governance. Also, Your Majesty, please issue an edict to appease the wrath of heaven and save the people from danger." A censor said in the morning meeting.

As soon as these words came out, several elderly people immediately agreed, asking the emperor to issue some kind of edict to punish himself.

The emperor was sitting on the dragon throne with a very ugly expression on his face. "According to Hu Aiqing's words, the disaster in the north was due to my lack of virtue and angered Heaven, so God will punish me, right?" The emperor's tone was cold, with anger hidden in it.

"Your Majesty is a wise king who has been seen for a long time. He is far wiser than the previous kings. However, your Majesty is young after all, and it is inevitable that he will act with arrogance. I don't know what happened to offend the gods, which caused this disaster. As long as your Majesty If you punish yourself by issuing an edict, and then worship the heaven, I think this flood will definitely pass soon." The Hu Yushi did not hear the displeasure in the emperor's tone, but still said. This man was quite old, he looked to be in his fifties or sixties. He had no expression on his face and was still talking nonstop.

Yue Pengcheng stood up from the side and said, "Your Majesty, I think this flood is just a natural disaster and has nothing to do with your Majesty's virtue. Your Majesty does not need to issue any edict to blame yourself. This matter is pure nonsense. We have this time, it is better to It would be more pragmatic to think about how to provide disaster relief. "Pengcheng is now working in the Ministry of Works, and he happens to be a doctor in the Ministry of Water Resources, which is under the Ministry of Works. These things happen to be under his jurisdiction.

The emperor's mood improved a little. He was about to speak, but unexpectedly Hu Yushi below said first, "Your Majesty, the words of the doctor of the Ministry of Water are setting your Majesty up for injustice. A major disaster from heaven is a punishment from God. , how can we say it is a natural disaster? Then why did such a flood appear this year after not seeing it for a hundred years? Your Majesty, we must be cautious about this matter. If we are not careful, we may offend the gods again, and there may be even greater disasters. Disaster is coming." This old guy insists that the flood is a punishment from the gods.

Pengcheng snorted coldly, "What Mr. Hu said makes no sense. If it is really a punishment from heaven, why doesn't the heavy rain fall on the capital? Doesn't this show the anger of heaven even more? Your Majesty is in Kyoto, and all the civil and military officials are in Kyoto. If God is There was punishment, so why did he let Kyoto go and be sent to the north instead? Isn’t this putting the cart before the horse?”

"That's because His Majesty is blessed and Longwei is here, so the heavy rain did not fall in Kyoto." An old man next to him came up and said.

Lu Shaojin also stood up, "Master Du's words are contradictory to Hu Yushi's words. Since His Majesty has brought blessings to the heavens and blessed all the people, how can there be a saying that God will punish you? This is what I said to you. The people will laugh out loud when they hear this, let alone in this court? Floods have happened in all ages, and they are not a fault from God. This is nonsense, and your Majesty does not need to pay attention to it. "