As the sun set in the west, Chen Laochong, dripping with sweat, held up his bow and Hu Lu, and walked to the gate of Pingxi Fort where he lived.
Although Pingxi Fort is just a fort, it is actually so large that it can be called Pingxi Fort.
This fort is located in the heart of the Hehuang Valley and the Datong Valley. It is a key transportation point for Qinghai, Dafeichuan, and even the Batang Plateau and Longyou.
Although the altitude is higher, there is abundant rainfall and water from large rivers. Therefore, although there are not many fields, only 50,000 to 60,000 acres, they are all high-yield fields.
The pasture area reaches nearly 500,000 acres, and they are all very good plateau pastures.
There are more than 300 households in Pingxibao. If the pasture is converted into acres, the average household owns more than 1,500 acres of land.
If you include the large amount of business income that Pingxibao's superior geographical conditions can bring, it can at least increase the average household by two to three hundred acres.
This kind of wealth, in this era, is definitely a rare condition in heaven and earth.
This is also true. Pingxi Castle is as famous as their war horses and fat sheep. Even the emperor in Tokyo knows about it.
And everyone who can live in this Pingxi Fort has a background.
Among the older generation in the fort, those with senior qualifications can be traced back to the time when Zhang Shengren first settled in Liangzhou. Those who joined later were during the period when Xiang Li, a party member of the Quiet Nan Army, were not eligible to be assigned to Pingxi Fort.
But even though the people in the fort have high status, Chen Laochong is still very proud because he joined earlier, and because he is from Guazhou and comes from the Guiyi Army.
His cousin Chen Sanlang was one of the 108 generals of the Yuan Dynasty, but it was a pity that he died of illness in Qunu City when he followed the saint on the expedition to Tianzhu.
Moreover, in this fort, except for their Chen family, the other three surnames are Zhang, Li, and Liu.
In today's Helong area, Zhang from Zhang Zhou, Li from Li Tang, and Liu from Han Dynasty are very typical surnames.
Whenever you meet people with these three surnames in the Helong area, they will not mention who their grandfather or great-grandfather is. They will be from the Wei, Jin or even the Han Dynasty as soon as they leave, and they will not run away. Their family must be from the Momo people, or directly from the Tubo, Zhuqiang, Dangxiang, and Tuyuhun tribes, converted into Han people.
Therefore, Chen Laochong has always been very proud. Their Guasha Chen family is a Miao descendant of Chen in the Southern Dynasties. They are a standard Han Chinese from a high family. The great-grandmother of the saint is the daughter of the Chen family.
Therefore, in Pingxi Fort, although everyone is Han, they are all headed by the Chen family.
"Sir, you are back. The sacrificial activities have been arranged and we are waiting for you to preside over the ceremony."
As soon as they arrived at the gate of the fort, a servant in blue with dark skin and a strange accent ran over quickly.
Chen Laochong nodded graciously and refused the servant's offer to help him hold the bow and bow. He only allowed the servant to take over a fat rabbit he had just killed.
Because Chen Laochong felt that these servants were not worthy of touching the old friends he relied on for survival.
The further you go into Pingxi Fort, the more you see these dark-skinned servants. Of course, there are also some with less dark skin.
These are Kunlun slaves brought from Tianzhu by Prince Xiping and his son, and they are also very popular.
Well, Li Cunhui and his son are very powerful now. Not only have they conquered a small territory in Tianzhu, but they also lead soldiers from Batang Seven Prefectures southward every year.
Go and plunder some people, and then sell them to the nobles and guard families in the Helong area.
The reason why it was so popular was that the people of the Zhou Dynasty suddenly discovered that these Kunlun slaves from Tianzhu were not only as obedient as the Kunlun slaves from the south of Lingnan, but they were also very hardworking.
Although they are not as good at growing crops as the Han people, they are quite smart and can be taught well. After getting used to it for a while, they will be almost as good as the Han people.
What! Is there a Kunlun slave who is very good at farming, quite hard-working, but timid and resigned to his fate?
This made Zhang Zhou and Helong Wuxun extremely happy. They just lacked people to farm the land!
If Zhang Yan didn't want too many of Asan Ge's genes to take root in Helong, and specifically ordered Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment to formulate regulations to limit the number of Tianzhu Kunlun slaves to Helong, it is estimated that the Xunchen officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty headed by Li Cunhui and his son could have done this. Hundreds of thousands of people came to the Helong area.
However, as soon as this regulation came out, Li Cunhui and his son became even more excited. This is simply the official pushing up prices!
So much so that now, an upright male Kunlun slave from Tianzhu is more expensive than his mother's bullock, and even a female Kunlun slave is about the same price as a bullock.
And they also have their own names. In Zhangzhou today, only dwarf black people from Lingnan who have undergone strict training and are specially used as slaves in the homes of powerful people can be called Kunlun slaves.
As for the serfs that Li Cunhui and his son and other honorable ministers brought from Tianzhu and sold them to Helong on the Batang Plateau, those with dark skin were called black slaves, and the plain slaves with fairer skin were called white slaves.
Time flies, it is now the third year of Qianyuan of the Great Zhou Dynasty, 962 AD.
Don't get me wrong, I, Saint Zhang, have not died yet, but in the 14th year of Shaoming, 959 AD.
The pioneers who traveled eastward to find Dongshengshenzhou returned to the Great Zhou Dynasty through the Canglang Water (North Equatorial Warm Current), and brought with them the Buddhist treasure predicted by the sage.
This incident was a huge shock to the whole world.
What do the Chinese say? In fact, they are also superstitious, but this superstition is not reflected in the worship of gods and Buddhas, but in the popularity of destiny and prophecies.
From the beginning of the Great Chu Dynasty to King Chen Sheng, it only took two and a half years without counting Xuantong.
The words of prophecy have always been extremely popular in China. Even ordinary people must pay attention to getting a good result when doing things.
Therefore, Zhang Zhang predicted the existence of Dongsheng Shenzhou and the Four Treasures of Buddhism. In the eyes of people at this time, this was not a prophecy, but a prophecy.
And this thing is often tied to destiny.
In fact, this is also an important reason why Monk Yanshou and Master Cixian developed inner demons just because of Zhang Gao's few words.
Because in their opinion, Zhang Yan's gamble was too big. If he really lost the bet, not only would the Six Methods Sect collapse, but Zhang Zhou's destiny would be widely questioned.
Why would a great man like Zhang Shengren dare to make such a bet? Is he really omniscient and omnipotent and indeed aware of the existence of Dongsheng Shenzhou? Are there really gods and Buddhas?
Under this extreme impact on their own beliefs and knowledge, Monk Yanshou and Master Cixian devoted everything they had to resolutely going out to sea to find Dongsheng Shenzhou.
And when Master Fayan, a disciple of Master Cixian, returned after going through all kinds of hardships and borrowing the water of the Canglang (North Equatorial Warm Current), the whole world went crazy.
It turns out it's all true!
The huge shock caused by the return of Monk Fayan spread to all the territories that Zhou Dynasty could influence.
In the face of this huge shock that transcended cognition, the wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River, the wealthy families in the two lakes, the land tigers in the three provinces of Lingnan, and the barbarians in the Xianbei and Xianbei Mountains, north of the Beihai, central Guizhou, and the Chu vassal.
They all gave up the idea of secretly confronting the imperial court and the new Great Zhou, and some even took the initiative to confess and be lenient.
Because for them, all this is too shocking. It is the first time that destiny has appeared so clearly. How can mortals resist Da Zhou, who is so favored by God?
At the same time, in the religious world, it is even more exaggerated. It is completely a dimensionality reduction attack, and it is a living god!
How terrifying is this? No matter how flamboyant your words are, no matter how exquisite the scriptures and meanings of any sect, can they compare to the existence of God in this world?
However, fortunately, Zhang Hao's mind is still clear, although now he can rely on his status as a living god to complete some great deeds that earthly emperors cannot accomplish, and can even enslave all the people as servants of gods.
But if you do this, it may not even be profitable in the present, and it will definitely be harmful in the future.
So, when the monk Fa Yan returned to the Central Plains and brought back corn, sweet potatoes, peanuts, tomatoes, peppers and other species, the monks of the Liufa Sect vigorously encouraged and prepared to really push Zhang Hao to the altar. Perseverance refused.
He personally arrived at Mingzhou Port in Jiangnan Province, personally boarded the ship to identify the various grains and plants brought back, and threw all the unknown ones into the fire to burn them, and briefly educated everyone on the dangers of species invasion. .
Later, Saint Zhang convened the world's sect leaders and learned men from all over the world at Jin'e Zen Temple in Mingzhou, and personally explained to them the theory of a round sky and a square place.
Da Fang admitted that his prophecy of Dongsheng Shenzhou was derived from his understanding of the round sky and the square earth.
Regarding how he knew that there must be high-yielding crops in Dongsheng Shenzhou, Zhang Hao smiled lightly.
"The land is vast and is not connected to the Divine Continent, so there must be food to survive. I only gave a rough outline. Dongsheng Shenzhou is so big, you can always find similar ones, such as peanuts, peppers, orange melons (pumpkins). I Otherwise, it’s not accurate.”
Finally, Zhang Hao further predicted that he would name the round land where he lived the earth. If he started from Mingzhou Port and headed east, he would eventually return to Mingzhou Port.
He also made a promise that as long as anyone, whether military, civilian, farmer, industrial or commercial, could verify his idea, he would be given the title of marquis and a silver mine in Ishima County would be rewarded.
As soon as this statement came out, there was a burst of joy. The learned Confucian scholars present immediately praised the emperor for his natural knowledge, his knowledge of nature, and his ability to compare with the ancient sages. They even said that the emperor could be compared with the Yan Emperor Shennong.
Zen Buddhism and other Buddhist sects boast that the emperor is indeed the guardian and protector of Buddhism under the Buddha. He has such vision and knowledge only after receiving enlightenment from the Buddha.
The Taoist sect boasted that Emperor Zhang was the source of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and had a great opportunity, so he could obtain the transformation of heaven and earth and get a glimpse of the great road between heaven and earth.
Generally speaking, Emperor Zhang, you can be whatever god you want to be. As long as you are not a living god, that is the greatest kindness to them, and they will do anything.
Soon, with the concerted efforts of everyone, the emperor who could have ascended the altar directly, with his own insistence, walked up to the altar gracefully, and then walked down gracefully.
Everyone was satisfied, except for a group of great men from the Six Dharma Sect.
Zhang Yan's current explanation has many flaws and cannot be justified.
Although he used a large number of ancient books of sages and even the Classic of Mountains and Seas as evidence, there are still many aspects that cannot be explained at all, at least the records of vegetation and figures of Dongsheng Shenzhou that he taught Zhao Yihu and Zhao Hutou cannot be explained.
Monk Fayan paid homage to Zhang Hao on the spot. He naturally believed that the emperor was the supreme heaven and the true god and Buddha.
After worshiping, Monk Fayan said in a low voice to the great monk of the Six Fa Sect beside him:
“The Supreme God has a vast heart, and He doesn’t want us mortals to have only the seeds of worship in our hearts.
The Supreme God is not willing to enslave all living beings, but wants them to be truly peaceful and happy. Only a true Buddha can have such a broad mind. "
The Great Virtue of Precepts nodded slowly, "This is the great mercy of the Supreme God, but we mortals have to be aware of it and cannot let the mercy of the Supreme God be ignored by all living beings."
The Great Master Duxing, who was not far from the Master of Precepts, hesitated for a moment. He slowly opened his mouth, thought for a while and then still didn't speak, but shook his head slightly.
He felt that the Great Virtue of Precepts had completely ignored the intention of the Supreme Heaven to popularize the knowledge of the origin of the world to the monks of the Six Methods Sect many times and encourage the monks of the Six Methods Sect to explore the world.
How can it be more important to just advocate miracles than to explore the world and solve mysteries one after another?
Senior brother, you have gone astray!
In this year, it happened to be December when the monk Fa Yan came back. Zhang Yan took this opportunity to announce that the next year would be changed to Qianyuan, and 960 AD would be the first year of Qianyuan of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
However, for Chen Laochong, he has no idea that he lives on the earth.
He didn't know that many people had already started various preparations to prove that the earth was round. Instead, he knew that the saint in the palace was Buddha.
In addition to the powerful Six Dharma Sect in the Helong area, which almost blocked all other religions, the other thing was the shock that corn, sweet potatoes, orange melons, etc. brought to Chen Laochong.
In fact, the crop seeds brought back by Monk Fayan were not many. Since many ships were lost on the road, the total brought back was only about ten tons.
It sounds like a lot, but it's really not much for so many species to start forming a system in another completely unfamiliar place and integrating into the local ecology.
Although now we have figured out the route to Dongsheng Shenzhou, the cost of each departure is still very high, and it takes more than half a year to go back and forth.
Therefore, in order to make rational use of these seeds, except for some small-scale planting in Jiangnan Province, most of them were transported to the Helong area.
Here, there is no wealthy family to cause trouble, and no official dares to act against others or deceive superiors and subordinates. Everyone will move into action at one word from Shengren Zhang.
More importantly, thanks to the agricultural doctorate strategy implemented by Zhang Zhi in the Helong area, the farming level in the Helong area was extremely advanced at this time, much higher than in Zhili, Hebei, Jiangnan and other provinces.
"Yeah, yeah, what a great harvest, what a great harvest!"
As soon as Chen Laochong walked to the temple in Xiping Fort, he was tall and tall. Under the leadership of his three sons, who had been practicing martial arts diligently since he was born, they immediately surrounded him.
The third son held a huge corn cob in his hand and smiled happily, "Yeah, this corn is really good and can be grown on sloping land. This year, the most productive land in the Cross River has produced a full seven hundred kilograms of grain."
"Okay, okay!" Chen Laochong smiled happily as he took the big corn cob.
Although a yield of more than 700 kilograms per mu can be considered auspicious and is not common, a yield of more than 500 kilograms per mu is still guaranteed.
Before that, most of the fields in the Helong area could only produce 220 to 30 kilograms per acre, which was less than half of what it is now. Just think about it and you will know how much wealth this has brought.
"Brother Chen, we have laid out the sacrifices and other things, just waiting for you to get started." The head of the Liu family came up to remind him respectfully.
Don't think that this person has lowered his status a bit. You must know that Chen Lao Chong is not a bug of bugs, but a bug of the eye-catching white-fronted bug.
Twenty-five years ago, Chen Laochong was a perverted being outside Luoyang City who could wear three layers of armor and fight for four hours without losing his strength.
He couldn't be called an unparalleled murderer, but it was quite common to kill a lot of people when he got angry.
The person to be sacrificed today is Chen Laochong’s cousin, that is, Chen Sanlang, who is ranked 79th among Zhang Shengren’s 108 Yuan Cong.
The statue of Chen Sanlang appeared in the left hall of the temple in the form of the Dharma Protector. Looking at the statue of his cousin, Chen Laochong burst into tears and sat on his knees in front of the statue of his cousin and babbled.
Every year on his cousin's memorial day, Chen Laochong would shed tears, because without the sacrifice of his cousin Chen Sanlang, Chen Laochong would not be where he is today.
Crying, nagging.
The leading figures of the Zhang, Li, and Liu families, as well as Chen Laochong's sons, came to persuade him. After a while, Chen Laochong stood up wiping tears.
Then he started to skin the plump gray rabbit that he had shot with his own hands, took out the internal organs, smeared it with sauce, and started grilling it directly.
Um, kill them directly in the temple and then grill them.
No problem! Our Liufa Sect is so wild.
Under normal circumstances, you definitely shouldn't do this, but in situations such as paying homage to ancestors or killing enemies, you can do it in temples according to the ritual.
In other words, in the small temple built by oneself with the approval of Liufa Sect, one can make sacrifices with one's own hands to pay homage to the ancestors, and one can also drag sworn enemies to the point of disemboweling themselves. Duan is extremely cruel.
After a while, a roasted and browned rabbit was ready. Chen Laochong took the roasted rabbit and stared majestically at the people in the fort, and then invited the county captain sent by the imperial court to Xiping Fort.
The county lieutenant cut the roast rabbit into dozens of pieces in front of everyone. Whenever he read a person's name, he could come up and take a piece of rabbit meat.
Although a rabbit was given to the rabbit, the ceremony was quite solemn. The person who was given the rabbit looked as red as if he had drunk fine wine, and walked with a sway.
As for those who didn't get the rabbit meat, except for some who couldn't compete and were already lying flat, the others all looked pale, as if they were mourning for their heirs.
After the county lieutenant finished dividing the meat, he suddenly waved his hand, and a roll of silk cloth surrounded by yellow and white in the center appeared in his hand.
It turns out that the county captain came back today not only to preside over the ceremony to honor Chen Sanlang, but also the emperor issued a recruitment order.
"The Great Emperor, who has been appointed by Heaven, has an edict!"
boom! Upon hearing the emperor's edict, everyone knelt down on one knee and the scene was completely silent.
"Adud Daulai, the minister of the tyrant in black clothes, has occupied the territory of our vassal state of Saman for many years. Now he has mobilized people from Anxi, Kangju, Mulu, Micheng and other places to attack and kill the imperial officials and plunder the imperial property.
It is unbearable!
The second son, King Xianyu of Anguo, the fifth son, King Xianxi of Song Dynasty, and the tenth son, King Xiantai of Shu Kingdom, were specially ordered to gather troops to attack him. The four families of Chen, Zhang, Liu and Li in Xipingbao sent forty elite cavalry to go together. "
"The day has finally come. The children have studied hard and practiced hard, and they will finally be useful."
Chen Laochong looked up to the sky and roared, then looked at his three sons with excitement, "Go and offer a stick of incense to your uncle, and let him bless you in your achievements in the river."
The three sons were also very excited, and the fourth son even laughed and said: "Yes, we have the eldest brother and the second brother to serve in old age, so we younger brothers don't have to worry about it. The children will fight bravely when they go, and they will not fall into the glory of our Chen family." .
If there are three long and two short, Ye Ye will set up a statue of the child catching a knife next to his uncle, so that our uncle and nephew can meet in the paradise world. "
