Guo Zhiyuan spent the day in the barracks during the Chinese New Year's Eve, and the regimental training township soldiers had already taken a holiday, Guo Zhiyuan gave them a month's advance in advance, so that they could happily go home with silver for the New Year, but the New Army was all homeless and captured by bandits, Guo Zhiyuan specially slaughtered a few big fat pigs, bought several large barrels of wine, and celebrated the New Year with the soldiers of the New Army.

Coming out of the New Army barracks after dinner, Guo Zhiyuan was already a little drunk, so he didn't ride a horse, invited Xu Guangqi to walk back to the county government together, digested his swollen stomach by the way, and looked at the festive and peaceful scenes in the county, Guo Zhiyuan also had a sense of accomplishment, turned his head to Xu Guangqi beside him and smiled: "Mr. Xu, how do you think this Gutian County is better than when we first came?" ……”

Xu Guangqi was also very satisfied with Guo Zhiyuan's performance after arriving in Gutian County, even he didn't expect Guo Zhiyuan to be able to clear the bandits in such a short time, open up the situation, and he was also very optimistic about his future with Guo Zhiyuan, he smiled and said: "Gongzi can clear the bandits so quickly, it is really the blessing of the people of Gutian, the people of Gutian have suffered from the ravages of bandits for a long time, and this year can finally have a peaceful year, naturally rejoicing, this is all the credit of Gongzi......"

Speaking of this, Xu Guangqi glanced at Guo Zhiyuan, saw that his face was pale, knowing that he was a teenager after all, and he couldn't praise him too much, and he had to mention it from time to time, so as not to get carried away, so he changed his tone and said: "However, if Gongzi wants to revitalize Gutian, there is still a long way to go, Gutian has been weak for a long time, and freezing three feet is not a day's cold, but it is not so easy for Gongzi to change the poverty and backwardness of Gutian in a short period of time!" ……”

Guo Zhiyuan was poured a basin of cold water by Xu Guangqi, and he calmed down a lot, although he is now considered to have opened up the situation, but it is not easy to fundamentally change the backward situation of Gutian, although he opened up several financial roads to temporarily solve his personal financial crisis, but the people still have no money, only by making the people rich, can it be regarded as the real revitalization of Gutian, but this is obviously not something that can be done in a short time.

Thinking of this, Guo Zhiyuan's excited mood was also greatly affected, silently walked forward, thinking about how to develop the Gutian economy while walking, he had the impression that Gutian County in later generations did not seem to have any particularly famous special cash crops, the only thing that is somewhat famous is that the edible fungus industry seems to be doing well, it should be that the climate here is more suitable for the cultivation and production of edible fungi, but the edible fungi are not easy to preserve, and the people of this era have not developed the habit of eating edible fungi, and it is estimated that it is very difficult to promote.

At this time, Guo Zhiyuan suddenly heard a burst of crying, Guo Zhiyuan raised his head in surprise and looked around, this New Year, every household is beaming, who is crying on such a festive day? Soon he found the source of the cry, the cry came from a dilapidated courtyard next to it, this family knew at a glance that the conditions were not very good, other people's homes were pasted with festive Spring Festival couplets, but this one was not pasted, is there something sad happened?

Encountering such a strange thing, Guo Zhiyuan naturally wanted to find out, walked directly to the courtyard where the crying sound, the door of the courtyard was hidden, Guo Zhiyuan directly pushed the door in, found that the cry came from the hall facing the gate, Guo Zhiyuan walked over, there was no light in the hall, Guo Zhiyuan could only faintly see three figures with the help of the glimmer outside, one kneeling and one sitting and standing, he listened to the kneeling figure with a crying voice: "Mother, today is the thirtieth year of the Chinese New Year's Eve, you can eat more, the child is not filial, can not let you enjoy your old age in peace, There's only so much more I can do......"

The sitting figure had an old voice, and he also said with a choked voice: "Son, my mother knows your difficulties, my mother has lived sixty years old, she has lived enough, she is content, tomorrow my mother will go to the grave of the living dead, you don't have to go to send food to your mother, you will directly seal the grave, and ......save you from dragging it down."

The figure standing should be a young woman, her voice was sharp, and she said coldly: "Mother, it's good that you can understand the reason, originally your old man should have moved to the grave of the living dead after sixty years ago, we can let you go after the New Year, it is already the greatest filial piety, people have to think about future generations, after sixty will enter the grave of the living dead, this is the rule handed down by our ancestors, we don't know if we can live to sixty, so you don't want to be affectionate, Today, your son killed the only old hen that laid eggs in the house, and your old man will take a bite, and tomorrow will be ready to go on the road! ……”

Guo Zhiyuan heard the words "tomb of the living dead" and chuckled in his heart, he also saw it in the history of the wild, in ancient China, the level of production was low, the living resources were poor, once the old man reached the age of 60, there was not much labor, and the descendants would dig a tomb hole for the old man to live in, so that the old man would fend for himself, this kind of tomb is called "tomb of the living dead", commonly known as "clay pot tomb", and what is more cruel is that because the old man did not die when he lived in, so the descendants would still send food to the old man once a day, Every time a meal is delivered, a green brick will be added to the entrance of the tomb, until the tomb is completely sealed, and no more food will be delivered, so that the old man will starve to death in the tomb!

This kind of cruel tomb custom is completely inconceivable to modern people, but it has existed for a long time in ancient times, especially in the Yuan Dynasty, the government has issued a clear order, the old man must be sent to the "clay pot grave" to die as soon as he is over 60 years old, otherwise the whole family will be executed!

In the Ming Dynasty, although this cruel decree was abolished, but in those poor places still maintain such bad habits, and even spread a ridiculous saying that the old man does not enter the crockpot grave after the age of 60, it will damage the blessings and luck of the children and grandchildren, and will hurt their descendants, although this statement is unreasonable, but it also makes this cruel tomb vulgar bad habit passed down!

Guo Zhiyuan never thought that he would witness the existence of such cruel and vulgar vices, and when he heard it, he was furious and shouted: "How can this be reasonable! How can anyone send her mother to the grave to die while she is still alive?! It's just a beast! ……”

The three people in the room were all startled, and when they saw Guo Zhiyuan's appearance clearly through the faint light, they were even more frightened, and now Guo Zhiyuan's prestige in Gutian County was unparalleled for a while, and many people recognized him, so they quickly knelt on the ground in a panic, and said in panic: "I've seen the county official!" ……”

Guo Zhiyuan entered the house, and also roughly saw the appearance of the three people, sitting before was an old woman with gray hair, two younger men and a woman should be her son and daughter-in-law, the son is not young, about forty years old, he looks honest, but the daughter-in-law has high cheekbones and thin lips, and a snarky face!