Wang Xiaolie walked slowly under the willow tree with his hands behind his back and a small branch. When you see a small hole in the ground, you dig it out with a branch, and the hole becomes bigger. Inside, there was an earwig, dancing with two large pincers, tightly guarding the entrance of the cave. Ge Erlang came up in one stride and reached into the hole. When the cockroach pinched his finger, he retracted and the cockroach poop was taken out.
Taking it in his hand happily, Ge Erlang said: "I heard from Sun Wulang that this thing is extremely delicious. I didn't know it before!"
Wang Xiaoxing said: "This food is delicious. People have been accustomed to eating it since ancient times. In ancient times, there was a sage named Zhuang Zhou. He wrote a book called "Zhuangzi". There is a story in it. It is said to be the sage Confucius. When I arrived in the state of Chu, I saw an old man catching cicadas with a bamboo pole, just like picking things up on the ground, and never missed. Confucius came up and asked, what is the old man's secret to catch cicadas so accurately? The old man told Confucius, I have practiced this skill hard. At the beginning, I put two round pellets on the bamboo pole. If it doesn't fall, I can catch the dragonfly very accurately. Then I increased the number to three round pellets, and continued to practice to five round pellets. You almost never miss.”
Ge Erlang said: "This old man has so much perseverance! This matter is difficult to practice, and I don't have the patience!"
Wang Xiaolie laughed after hearing this and said: "It's not just you, there are several people in this world who have! Confucius has probably never seen this old man. Zhuangzi just wrote such a story. It shows that if a person can concentrate and concentrate, What amazing things can be done.”
Ge Erlang curled his lips: "Why can't these sages speak properly? They insist on making up these stories!"
Wang Xiaolie said: "Because I made up these stories, no matter who they are, they are attracted by the stories and love to read their books. When I grow up and have more knowledge, I understand the meaning and feel that the sages are great."
Ge Erlang shook his head, turned around and looked down at the ground with Sun Wulang.
It had just rained, and the ground was moist and easy to loosen the soil. It was the time when cicadas emerged. However, Sun Wulang and Ge Erlang were inexperienced. From time to time, they used ant nests and other insect nests as cicada holes, and they could not catch any for a long time. Wang Xiao, on the other hand, was hunting calmly. He stretched out the small branch in his hand and pried open the hole. There must be a cicada inside.
Cicadas are also called cicadas, and they were called so in most areas during the Song Dynasty. Later, the pronunciation changed in various places, and a large number of names with similar pronunciation appeared. For example, Jiniao, Jilia, Jiliu, Jieliu, and even cicada may also be phonetic changes, and there are a large number of words with this pronunciation.
Of course the ancients ate cicadas, and there are many records of them during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. However, in later generations, except for some areas, most places stopped eating it. The reason is unclear. Maybe later generations thought that cicadas had a noble temperament because they ate in the wind and drank in the dew. The best time to eat is of course when it has just crawled out of the soil and has not shed its skin. Deep-fried, add some salt and pepper, it's very delicious. The cicada is actually delicious after hatching, but you can only eat the two pieces of meat on the back, and other parts such as the belly can only be thrown away.
The officials were discussing the next policy in the hall, while Wang Xiaolie wandered around in the mountains. I saw many cicada holes under the big willow tree, so I brought Sun Wulang and Ge Erlang to catch them today.
Looking at the sunset on the west mountain, Wang Xiaoxing said: "I caught a lot, enough to eat today. Come on, let's go back."
After that, he took his two children and walked towards his residence. When I arrived at my residence, I ordered the chef to clean it, fry it, and make it a snack to go with wine.
Sitting under the pomegranate tree, Wang Xiaolie said to Sun Wulang: "I went to Caizhou to buy grain, and it was two years ago when I met you on the road. It's a pity that I was so young that I lost my life before I could grow up. Alas. , things in the human world are really difficult to explain.”
Sun Wulang said: "If we hadn't encountered the observation, of course we would have died. It is always good to live a few more years."
"It's always good to live a few more years." Wang Xiaolie raised his head, looked at the sunset on the horizon, and chewed on these words. In troubled times, the people's demands can only be so low. After several years of war, how many people lost their lives? Even the living people dare not have any extravagant expectations for life.
Ge Erlang said: "It's actually even worse on the north side of the Yellow River. In our villages there are very few people left in ten, and there are no living people in many villages. If we hadn't been moved to the south under observation, I'm afraid we wouldn't have survived for a few more years."
Looking at the two people, Wang Xiaolie didn't know what to say for a moment. In today's troubled times, Xiangyang's society is stable and has become a paradise.
After a moment of silence, Wang Xiaolie said: "This area is the government's manor, used to grow crops. Many people who moved here were resettled here, forming a village. I remember that there are hundreds of households in this village. We set up schools, businesses, and liquor stores, what about now?”
Ge Erlang said: "Yes, yes. All children in the village have to go to school for three years. They say they have to learn 1,500 characters and arithmetic. I have been studying in school for several months. I also know a hundred or two hundred words.”
Wang Xiaolie said: "One or two hundred characters is not enough. If you can't read the article, you will lose interest in learning to read."
Ge Erlang said: "I heard from my husband that learning Chinese characters slowly at first will pick up speed later on. However, the government stipulates that it is not easy to learn 1,500 Chinese characters in three years. The first person to enter the school has already been a year and a half. No matter how hard they learn, other people can’t learn more words. I heard from my husband that many people can’t learn 1,500 words in three years.”
Wang Xiaolie nodded: "This kind of thing must be difficult at the beginning. As long as you can learn more than a thousand words now and can roughly understand the letter. When your children wait, it will be much easier to learn. At that time, the government If you have money, you can let your children study for five years.”
Ge Erlang pouted: "In my opinion, many people only know how to play. No matter how long it takes, they can't learn more words."
Wang Xiaolie smiled: "You have to know that people can learn things, and the entire human society will also grow. It is difficult for you to learn now, but it may not be so in the next generation. People at that time might think that one thousand five hundred There are too few words.”
Ge Erlang and Sun Wulang shook their heads together. How can it be? It’s hard for children in schools today to learn to read.
This kind of thing is impossible to distinguish, and Wang Xiaolie is too lazy to talk about it. Without real experience, people will always look at things from a linear perspective, and human society does not develop linearly. Just like in previous lives, although most people born in the 1960s and 1970s have gone to school, many of them cannot read a thousand words and can only do four simple arithmetic operations in mathematics. By the 1980s and 1990s, most people were literate and had basic knowledge of mathematics. There are almost no illiterates among people born after 2000.
Learning is easier, not only due to the influence of parents, but also to the improvement of educational conditions and social development. Children have been playing with mobile phones since elementary school, reading various books, watching movies and TV shows, and the environment is different. Illiterate and almost unable to move.
By the time Sun Wulang and Ge Erlang's children go to school, after ten or twenty years of development, society will definitely be different. There were more books then, there were more areas in life that required literacy, and there were more literate people.
Wang Xiaolie said: "How do you usually live in the village besides going to school?"
Ge Erlang said: "Adi Xiao, who cooked on the road, also lives in this village now. He cooks for the village and does other chores. Wulang and I both live with Adi Xiao. Adi Xiao is not married. We are a family."
Wang Xiaolie nodded. I vaguely remember that when I met Ge Erlang, the cook was named Xiao San, but I didn’t know he was here too. This place is different from ordinary villages. It is actually a government property, and the villagers are also considered employees of the government.
Wang Xiaolie said: "You have been in the village for a few months, what's new?"
Ge Erlang said: "I have grown up in the north since I was a child. When I came here, I saw many strange things. For example, tangerines, yellow oranges, loquats, bamboo shoots, etc., which I have never seen before. There is a lot of water here, and there are all kinds of things. Fish. By the way, the necked bream is the most delicious."
Speaking of this, Ge Erlang said again: "And, there is one more. At the beginning of the year, we brought some sugar cane from Yicheng County to the village and planted it, and now it is big. I heard that this sugar cane is the sweetest, but unfortunately everyone said that it is too small now. Can’t eat.”
Wang Xiaolie's heart moved, but he forgot about sugar cane, a cash crop.
Sugarcane can be grown in many places in the south, and it is also warmer at this time than in later generations, so it is also grown in Xiangyang. But at this time, it was not as good as the Tang Dynasty. Xiangyang only had Yicheng and other places to the south where there were mountains to block the cold current and sugar cane could still grow normally. However, the sugar cane here is far less sweet than Mingzhou, Sichuan, Panyu and other sugar cane-rich places. Not used to squeeze sugar, but just eaten as fruit.
So what if it's not sweet enough? Sugar in this era is too expensive and the cost is higher, but it is still a profitable business.
Wang Xiaolie set up a manor here, with the main purpose of introducing crops from the north and south. Xiangyang is right in the middle between north and south. Crops in the south can grow as well as those in the north. Through planting here, some crops from the south can be planted in the north, and crops from the north can be planted in the south.
Not long after, the cockroaches were fried and served. Wang Xiaoxing said: "This is a kind of delicacy, but it is a pity that it cannot be used as a staple food. Come over here and have a taste. You can catch some when you have free time later, as a pastime."
Ge Erlang stepped forward and took one in his mouth. Praise: "It really tastes good!"
Wang Xiaolie smiled. This child has not eaten many good things, but he will praise it if it tastes good.
After taking a breath, Ge Erlang washed the water aside. Asked: "Observe, the officials over there are busy discussing, why are you so free?"
Wang Xiaolie said: "Because I don't need to discuss with them, I will naturally be free."
Ge Erlang didn't know whether he understood or not, so he went to play with Sun Wulang.
Why don't you go to the discussion? What was Wang Xiaolie going to discuss? As long as he grasps the general direction, other matters will naturally be taken care of by his subordinates. The specific situation is unclear, so it is difficult to interfere with how to govern. For Wang Xiaolie, as long as he firmly grasps the army, political affairs can naturally be handled by his subordinates. Only through training can these officials grow up.
