Early winter has arrived quietly, but this year's temperature does not seem to be too low. Although the west wind is always whistling in the ears, it does not bring a blanket of silver, but colorful colors can be seen everywhere.
Along the country roads, you can hear the cool breeze rubbing the leaves and smell the fragrance of persimmons and fruits. Pieces of orange-red color dot the branches, dyeing the countryside red.
However, although the persimmons are ripe, few people pick them.
But some children were greedy, so they climbed up the tree in groups and picked a few persimmons to satisfy their craving. The adults on the side will not stop the children from playing. After all, this is the only winter day of the year where they can relax a little.
However, if the child standing under the tree fails to catch the persimmon and lets it fall to the ground, the adults on the side will scold him harshly.
Some old people will pick up the smashed persimmon, wipe the upper part of the persimmon with their sleeves, sigh, and pile the smashed pulp next to the persimmon tree and bury it in the soil, allowing it to be turned into nutrients again. Return to the persimmon tree and eat the clean part.
The sweet taste entered the mouth, but there were no smiles on the faces of the old people, but all were bitter. Some even shed tears, as if they recalled some bad memories.
"If it weren't for these persimmon trees, we would have starved to death long ago. How could we have received the king's disaster relief food?"
Two years ago, on Gengyin Day in July, the fourth year of the Qin Dynasty, locusts that covered the sky and sun came from the east and gnawed at the fields of people all over the world. Almost every household suffered such a tragedy. As the locusts spread, the disease also spread everywhere with the locusts, and the whole world fell into hunger and disease.
The Mohists organized various factions to use force to clear away the locusts in the world. All countries also fully cooperated with the Mohists' actions. At the same time, various countries and families also provided support to doctors and technicians to treat the epidemic. It was not easy to eliminate the locusts and the epidemic. Suppress it.
But the disaster has been eliminated, but the losses caused by the disaster cannot be compensated.
Famine spread across the land, and people even had to exchange their children for food.
Later, I don’t know if it was the people of Guanzhong who were hanging curtains from heaven or something else, but the persimmon forest in Guanzhong suddenly bore fruit. These bright red persimmons saved countless lives, but the dead could not be resurrected.
And the people who died were far more than just those who died of starvation.
Therefore, whenever I eat persimmons from this tree, I will think of those relatives who are no longer at home, especially the children.
The persimmon juice smells like blood, with a hint of rust and fishy smell, which brings tears to the corners of your eyes.
However, in addition to this persimmon forest, they also have one person to thank.
At that time, the kings of various countries were also in dire straits, and all the grain stored in the national treasury might not be used for disaster relief. Otherwise, what would meat-eaters like them eat? What's more, we have to guard against invasion by other countries, so we can only take some hasty disaster relief measures.
In the Qin State, the then seventeen-year-old Ying Zheng issued a political order for the first time, showing for the first time the vision and courage of an emperor through the ages.
Ying Zheng ordered that "the common people should pay thousands of stones and be given a rank of nobility."
This means that if the people pay one thousand shi of grain to the government, they can get a first-class title.
The original intention of the decree was naturally to relieve the victims, but such a decree not only caused an uproar in the Qin State, but also attracted verbal and written criticism from the nobles and scholars all over the world.
No matter what dynasty or generation it is, no matter what dynasty or generation it is, it is a matter of verbal and verbal criticism by nobles and scholars. They say that Ying Zheng is harming the country and the people, and is a coward and a mediocre leader.
But what the nobles and scholars care about is that it has never been Yingzheng who harmed the country and the people. After all, what does Yingzheng have to do with the nobles and scholars of other countries? Shouldn't we hold our hands and laugh at Qin's crisis?
In addition, even among the courtiers of the Qin State, many wrote letters admonishing them to take back their titles and return their grain.
But are these people really worried about Qin's future?
No, they are just angry, they are just dissatisfied.
Even though Ying Zheng limited the promotion limit to doctors with the fifth-level title, he had already surpassed many small nobles and scholars.
What level are you on, equal to me?
They're just a bunch of lowly bastards and profiteers, are they worthy?
Especially the latter.
As a merchant with an inherently inferior status, the status of a merchant is the same as that of a son-in-law or a prisoner at the lowest level. Even though they have a huge amount of wealth in their hands and use the food, clothing, housing and transportation that the nobles cannot afford, they are always looked down upon and bullied. .
Because in the eyes of nobles and scholars, a group of people who are full of copper smell are worthy of being at the same level or even higher than themselves?
Naturally, they were the first to actively respond to Ying Zheng's decree. Merchants from all over the world came to Qin one after another. Even the Emerald Tiger paid five thousand shi of grain and settled in Qin without any real power, fiefdom, or food. The doctor has a false title.
A merchant was a lowly person, but being able to get rid of the name of a merchant and obtain a title of scholar, even though it was only the lowest rank of high official and could not be passed down to future generations, still made them enthusiastic about it. The merchants who got the title of doctor were also proud, straightened their backs, and became closer to Qin in their hearts.
Some merchants in Qin sold a batch of grain at the market price before the locust plague, and even took the initiative to give away a batch of free grain.
Of course, some merchants still came to Qin with high-priced grain, but grain merchants came one after another. There were more and more grain merchants and grain in Qin's market, so the price of grain naturally dropped, and eventually the price dropped. Qin State survived that famine.
This famine also established Ying Zheng's prestige among the people of Qin.
The common people are not scholars. Although many of them have earned titles through military exploits, most of them understand Ying Zheng.
They have been poor, they have been hungry, so they know what this food means.
What's more, these purchased titles cannot be passed down to the family, and the titles they obtained through military merit can be passed on to their descendants, so what is there to worry about?
In the end, relying on the public sale of titles to obtain food, Yingzheng rescued the victims of Qin's disaster and saved thousands of households.
The people have their own set of criteria for judging the king, and they are very simple.
Whoever treats them well is a wise man.
In the eyes of these old Qin people who were able to survive the famine, Ying Zheng was a wise king.
Jiujiu and Lao Qin fought against the national calamity together.
Ying Zheng and the Lao Qin people went to the national disaster together, and the Lao Qin people were also willing to work with Ying Zheng to overcome this difficulty.
During that time, if anyone dared to criticize Ying Zheng's move of selling titles in exchange for food to help the people on the land of Qin, he would be immediately hanged up and beaten to death by the angry old Qin people.
Now, their king is about to be crowned and pro-government. This is undoubtedly great news for the people of Old Qin.
They will also be the largest but least known supporters on the road to victory.
(2036 words)
