Warriors have always been revered in Leiyun Continent. Warriors are the best in the world, seizing the fortune of heaven and earth, and some even ascend to become gods. Therefore, there are countless people who practice martial arts and become immortals.
Entering the Tao through martial arts, breaking through the shackles of the laws of heaven and earth, and becoming a supreme god, this is the lifelong pursuit of a warrior. However, the road to martial arts is destined to be extraordinary. Once you step on it, life or death will be unpredictable, but it still cannot stop countless people from their heroic ambition to practice martial arts and practice Taoism. This is where our story begins.
In the 23rd year of Tianyou's reign in the White Horse Kingdom, the Heavenly Wolf Kingdom and the White Horse Kingdom came into conflict with each other over the robbery of a mineral deposit. Both sides summoned hundreds of thousands of troops to fight on the border, and warriors from both countries also joined the fight. The two countries have been at war for half a year without a winner. Due to excessive depletion of national power, public dissatisfaction boiled over. The rulers chose peace talks in order to stabilize people's hearts. The mineral deposits were split in half and mined in half by both countries.
After the war subsided, the two sides entered into peaceful development and the whole country rejoiced. However, Tianshui City in the Kingdom of White Horse, which was a border battlefield, suffered disaster. Half a year of fierce fighting resulted in numerous civilian casualties, starvation and deprivation of life for the people. Tianshui City is full of broken walls and bones. The civilians who were lucky enough to survive chose to leave their homes and stay away from this hell on earth.
Anyang City.
On this day, Anyang City was bathed in the afternoon sun and was warm. Qian Xiaopang, the silly son of a landlord, wandered around the city after lunch, picking his teeth contentedly as he walked. Well, the chicken just now was good. Li Dazui, Qian Xiaopang’s cook, has improved his skills. Let him cook another one tonight, Qian Xiaopang thought.
"Master, how much money can I give you? I haven't eaten for two days." A dirty beggar crawled over and grabbed Xiaopang Qian's trousers, begging pitifully.
Qian Xiaopang threw it away in disgust and frowned: "Go, go, go, I haven't eaten for two days every day, why don't you starve to death? Really, don't come up with anything new when begging, you deserve to be hungry!"
Anyang City is a small city less than three hundred miles away from the border of Baima Kingdom. The people of Tianshui City fled during the battle in Tianshui City the year before last, and many people fled here. Due to lack of means of livelihood, many people have become beggars, so the number of beggars in Anyang City has increased dramatically in the past two years.
Poverty breeds cowardice. In order to survive, some beggars cause trouble in the city, causing trouble in the city. These beggars not only have a problem with eating and drinking in the city, but they also have a problem with diarrhea. Some of them defecated everywhere in the city, and even dared to urinate in public, which scared many women in the city and did not dare to go out in broad daylight. They can't kill them, but they can't drive them away. The officials in Anyang City are really worried.
Finally, the master came up with a plan to gather these beggars in a place called Dirty Clothes Alley, and ordered them not to cross the border to other places in the city. If someone crosses the line, once discovered, the officer will beat him with a stick.
But this is not a solution. Dirty Clothes Alley is originally a slum area and is famous for being dirty and messy in Anyang City. Then drive a large number of beggars in, and it will be lively. Yesterday the boy from the Li family said that he was robbed by beggars, today the daughter from the Wang family said that her bellyband was stolen, and tomorrow the son from the Zhang family said that his wife was forced to get pregnant while out on the street...
Dirty Clothes Alley is filled with crime, hunger and cold, the plague is rampant, people are dying every day, and the entire city residents are afraid to avoid it. Anyang City is still relatively prosperous, but poor people come to complain every day. The government can't stand it anymore, so they join forces with some wealthy households to regularly distribute porridge and medicine. But a drop in the bucket cannot cure the disease of "poverty".
However, almost two years have passed, and the situation has become better, because almost all the beggars are dead, not even one in ten, and the poorest among the poor are almost dead. When there are fewer people, there are fewer things to do. Those who survived were all hard-failed, and with the help from the government, their lives got better. You must know that the government's aid is a fixed amount, and it does not decrease because there are fewer people. Therefore, if there are more people who die, the living people will receive more. In this way, the wise decision of the government saved the whole city, and the city lord was rewarded for it.
After the survival of the fittest, the remaining beggars learned the lesson. In order to survive, they learned some rules. I no longer defecate in the open, steal or rob, just beg honestly and be a beggar that is not annoying. Dirty Clothes Alley is getting better, getting rid of the mess of the past. In order to allow these beggars to survive, the government allowed them to beg elsewhere in order to provide more humane management.
What Qian Xiaopang met today was one of those unlucky beggars who survived. Qian Xiaopang had no sympathy for them, so he sent him away impatiently. Later, I met several beggars, but Qian Xiaopang pushed and kicked them away.
"Little beggar, the young master is here again. How is it? Are you convinced of your defeat last time?" Qian Xiaopang walked and arrived at the east city gate. He said to a beggar who was leaning under the city gate to catch lice. .
This was a dark and thin little beggar with messy hair and dirty body. He looked one or two years younger than Qian Xiaopang. His skinny body was wrapped in a dirty and torn robe. This is obviously an adult's clothing, and I don't know where it was stolen or picked up. The little beggar looked at the passers-by and merchants with a bitter look on his face, begging for someone to drop a copper coin into his broken bowl. But I went there all morning and didn't get a penny.
At this time, when he saw Fat Qian coming over, a hint of joy flashed in the little beggar's eyebrows, his noble man was here. The little beggar stopped catching lice, tightened his robe tightly, and said: "I'm convinced, I'm convinced. Master Qian is so smart, the little beggar is convinced."
Qian Xiaopang was very pleased with the compliment and burst out laughing: "It's good to know that the young master is smart. My father always calls me stupid. I don't know what he is thinking?"
Qian Xiaopang didn't like to talk to beggars in this city, but he didn't like the one in front of him. Probably because this little beggar is young and looks harmless. Fatty Qian would come over to tease him from time to time, and of course he would often reward him with a piece or two. Over time, the two people got to know each other.
A few days ago, Xiaopang Qian took some cooked crabs and met this little beggar while eating them. Then Qian Xiaopang wanted to tease him and made a bet with him. It was said that they were asking three questions about crabs. If the little beggar answered correctly, the crab would be his to eat. If he answered incorrectly, the little beggar would stand on the street and urinate in public. This was purely a prank, not very harmful, and the little beggar agreed wholeheartedly.
The first question: How many eyes does a crab have?
Answer: Two.
Second question: How many legs does a crab have?
Answer: Eight.
The third question: Which leg does the crab come out first when it walks?
…
Then the little beggar had no choice but to admit defeat. Fortunately, he was young and a beggar, so he didn't cause much trouble.
Fatty Qian is in a good mood today. He has eaten enough, drank enough, and is dressed warmly. With his round belly, he said to the little beggar: "Get up, let's play another game."
The little beggar shook his head, wrapped his robe again and said, "I won't play anymore. I'm hungry and don't want to get up."
Qian Xiaopang smiled and scolded: "What a starving ghost reincarnated, here you go." He took out two meat buns from his arms.
When he saw the food, the little beggar's eyes shone, he reached out to take it and started to devour it, while saying vaguely: "Thank you, Master!"
"Is it delicious?"
"tasty!"
Qian Xiaopang said with great interest: "Then Master, do you want to give you another chance to make money?"
"Yes." There is no one who wants to send money to the door, so the little beggar agreed without even thinking about it.
Xiaopang Qian took out a broken piece of silver, and then took out a bulging bag. He opened it and saw that it was a bag of copper coins. He didn't know how much it was. Qian Xiaopang played with the silver in his chubby hands and said with a smile: "Look, little beggar. This is one penny of silver, which is equal to one hundred copper coins. These copper coins are loose. I will give you a choice between two. One is that I will give you this coin directly, and the other is that I will give you one copper coin today, two coins tomorrow, four coins the day after, and eight coins the day after that... I will give it to you every day. The copper coins will be doubled from the previous day and will be given until the seventh day.”
"Master, what are you doing?" The little beggar blinked and couldn't believe this was true. Why did Qian Xiaopang give him so much money?
"Don't worry! I haven't finished speaking yet." Qian Xiaopang put the silver and copper coins on the ground, and continued: "You choose one of these two methods. If you choose the one with more, I will I'll give you the money you chose. If you choose wrong, kowtow to me three times and call me 'Uncle Qian' three times."
As a beggar, kowtowing to others is not a big deal. If you call someone "Uncle", it probably means that Qian Xiaopang has been a young master for a long time and wants to imitate his father's addiction to being an uncle. Just scream, it doesn't matter, money is everyone's boss, the little beggar agreed.
Qian Xiaopang looked joking: "Okay, you choose!"
"I choose the first option!" the little beggar said without hesitation.
Qian Xiaopang immediately jumped up, dancing, leaning forward and back, laughing loudly: "Idiot, I knew you would choose this way. It seems that my father is right, nine out of ten people will choose this way. I told him You said, you lost, you are willing to admit defeat, please kowtow and call me uncle."
The little beggar knelt down and kowtowed three times, and called "Uncle Qian" three times. Little Fatty Qian said happily: "You know why you lost, right?"
The little beggar shook his head, confused.
Qian Xiaopang became more and more arrogant and said with a smile: "Then let me tell you, young master. This is called numerology. My father taught me." After saying that, he imitated his father, holding one hand behind his back and stroking proudly with the other. With a beard like a beard, he said in an old-fashioned way: "People in this world, ahem, most of them are short-sighted and only value the petty gains in front of them..."
Rich man Qian is doing business in this city. The largest drug store, silk and satin shop, and grain store in the city are all owned by his family. They can be said to be a family of merchants. Qian Xiaopang has been exposed to it since he was a child, so he naturally learned to settle accounts. He learned this math technique from his father yesterday, so he came to show off to this little beggar.
Qian Xiaopang was spitting when he was talking. Suddenly, several children passed by. One of them said: "Hey, isn't this Xiaopang? We didn't see you when we went to your house. We didn't expect you to be here. Hurry up, Dou Go cricket, you kid won me a lot of money last time, I want to win double this time!"
Seeing his companions coming, Qian Xiaopang got addicted to crickets, so he left the little beggar behind and said: "Little beggar, the young master is going to win money today. I will tell you this math trick another day..."
After Qian Xiaopang walked away, an old beggar next to him asked with concern: "Afu, are you okay? I feel like you should have won. Then why did Master Qian lie so bad that you lost?"
The little beggar handed the remaining meat bun to the old beggar, and his confused eyes regained clarity: "It's okay, Uncle Atub, Master Qian is right, I did lose, the second way can get copper coins One hundred and twenty-seven, a full twenty-seven more."
The old beggar's mouth, which was already stuffed with buns, opened even wider, and he said vaguely: "What? Since you know it, why did you choose the wrong one? That's more than a hundred copper coins, you kid!" The little beggar was not literate, but he could count. It was Atub who taught him how to count.
A hint of cunning flashed in the eyes of the little beggar, and he said: "Uncle Atub, three cents per meat bun, and one hundred and twenty-seven copper coins can only buy 42 buns. We will finish them in a few days. But if I win the money Young Master, if he gets angry and refuses to give me money, then I have no choice but to admit it, and he will never care about us again."
Good guy, this little beggar has such accurate math skills at such a young age. What is even more valuable is that he is so good at calculations and knows how to make a long flow of water.
"You clever boy! Ah Shun has a heir!" The old beggar praised, and then sighed again: "What a pity that fate has a way with people!"
