After Xia Ji ordered the big net arrived, she began to find someone to start the maggot breeding experiment. To this end, Xia Ji asked the maid to sew a few pairs of masks and gloves, and set a provision to increase the subsidy for the four maggot keepers to motivate them to do it seriously. As for the specific implementation, it is up to them to sum up their experience and continuously improve.

A few days later, sure enough, there was news that there had been results, and the dozen or so chickens raised by Zhuyuan before loved to eat those high-protein maggots.

Xia Ji was very happy, and asked the few people to expand the scale and increase the production as much as possible, and if the chickens in Zhuyuan couldn't eat them for the time being, they would dry and grind these high-protein bugs into powder for use after the chicks hatched successfully.

Xia Ji's seedling raising and loach breeding are also very smooth, the survival rate of seedlings is high, and the growth is also very good; And the loaches in the pond also breed well. This made Xia Chan and some other people feel incredible, and they didn't understand how the hostess who seemed to be ice clear and jade could think of a way that these farmers couldn't think of.

However, Natsuhime knew that this was far from the time to celebrate, because these things were just the beginning.

The porridge shop in Xia Mansion has been closed and replaced by the Taishang Porridge Shop set up by the Queen Mother outside the palace, and the food purchased before was also sent to the Taishang Porridge Shop. This is also the result of Xia Ji's hope, the original intention of running her own porridge shop is just to help those who are struggling on the line of life and death, and she has not thought of getting any praise and influence from it, as long as they can survive, whoever comes forward is the same.

Uncle Xia Yushu is not easy these days, although the war of Chu against Zheng has ended, but this is not necessarily a good thing for Chen Guo. Because Uncle Xia received a secret report from an informant, after Chu asked Zheng Guo to bow down, the next target was Chen Guo, and now Chu State has made changes on the border with Chen State, and it is initially estimated that it will be put into action in a few months.

After Uncle Xia Yu informed Chen Gonggong of this secret report, the upper echelons of Chen immediately fell into a faint uneasy mood.

On this day, Uncle Xia Yu came to Zhuyuan to visit Xia Ji and informed Xia Ji of the situation.

"Madam, I received a secret report the day before yesterday that the next target of Chu State after the end of the Zheng State War is Chen State, and now it has begun to prepare for war."

"Huh? Why is the state of Chu so belligerent? ”

"The people of Chu claimed to be the descendants of the god of fire Zhurong, and at the beginning of the Shang Dynasty, these Chu people participated in the war to overthrow the Shang Dynasty together, and had certain military exploits. When the Western Zhou Dynasty was established, the princes were divided, but the princes with high titles and good fiefs were all surnamed Ji, while the people of Chu did not have marquis, so they did not get any sub-feuds. It was not until the reign of King Cheng of Zhou that he was made a viscount, and his fief was only five hundred li, and his main task was to resist the barbarian tribes in the south. ”

"So the people of Chu are very dissatisfied with Da Zhou, right?"

"Yes, ma'am. From the point of view of blood, the Chu people are only viscounts, in the low position of the five ranks of the princes and princes, and the fief is on the edge of the barbarians, the people of Chu are not convinced, plus the Chu people are still martial, and they continue to annex small countries or encroach on the territory of neighboring countries by force, and the Chu State has become more and more powerful and dominant. Due to their remote location and resentment towards the Great Zhou, they were not very active in paying tribute. This aroused the jealousy of King Zhao of Zhou, so King Zhao of Zhou went out to attack Chu three times, but the result was not only in vain, but he also drowned in the Han water of Chu, which deepened the contradiction between Chu and Great Zhou. ”

"My lord, it seems that the State of Chu is still very capable of fighting, and King Zhou Zhao was defeated by him."

"Yes, after defeating Queen Zhou Zhao, the state of Chu formed a rivalry with the Zhou family and the countries of the Central Plains, and now it is now the largest country in the area of the vassal states, and then simply called itself the king, on a par with Zhou Tianzi."

"But there should at least be a plausible reason for this kind of casual invasion of other countries, right?"

"Hehe, madam, the Chu State usually doesn't need a reason to attack a small country. When Suiguo was attacked by the State of Chu, the king of Suiguo was captured and asked the king of Chu, saying that I am not guilty, why are you beating us, and the king of Chu said that I am a barbarian. ”

"If such a belligerent and unreasonable power attacked the Chen State, how would Lord Sima and the Emperor resist?" Natsuhime asked worriedly.

"It seems impossible to rely on King Zhou Ding, and the State of Chu does not take Da Zhou in his eyes at all. If Chen Guo wants to protect himself, he has to contact Jin Guo and other northern countries to fight together. ”

"The concubine is a woman, and she doesn't dare to speak falsely about state affairs, she just hopes that there will be less killing in the world." Xia Ji knew that wars in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were the norm, and it was normal for large countries to annex small countries, and the final outcome was that the Qin State would dominate the world. As for when the Chen Kingdom was destroyed by whom, Xia Ji only hated that she didn't pay attention to this history when she was studying, so she could only hold the idea of resigning herself to fate and going with the flow.

"You don't have to worry too much, even if there is a war, there are rules and war etiquette. If you don't engage in sneak attacks, don't kill if you run away for more than 50 steps, etc. The battle is a time when both sides agree on a date, and then they charge at the same time after the formation is completed, and if the chariot passes by the opposing monarch's chariot, they have to get out of the chariot and salute. ”

"Ah, this is really a war between gentlemen, the concubine has been taught." Xia Ji said that when she was studying, she didn't understand that Song Xianggong buried the Song army because of his obsessiveness about etiquette, and now she knows that in the Spring and Autumn Period, she really talked about etiquette, even if it was a war, there was etiquette.

"The people of Chu seem to pay more attention to battlefield etiquette. In the battle between Chu and Jin, Chu defeated Jin, the chariots and horses of the Jin State fled in front, the people of Chu chased behind, and the chariots of the Jin people fell into a mud pit and could not move forward, so the chasing Chu people stopped and told the Jin people that the crosswood in front of the car was too obstructive and should be removed, and then the Jin people were able to continue to escape. But they didn't go far, the horses of the Jin people circled, and the Chu people taught them to pull out the banner and throw away the crossbar on the head of the chariot, so that they could run. So with the help of the people of Chu, the people of Jin finally escaped smoothly. ”

"This is too pedantic and gentlemanly, isn't it?" Natsuki laughed.

"Yes, the Jin people who escaped later turned their heads and said: We don't have rich experience in escaping like you Chu people, but we humiliated the Chu people who helped them escape." Uncle Xia Yu said.

"Oh, the people of Chu are really interesting. The concubine also knows some interesting things about the people of Chu, painting snakes, contradicting themselves, carving boats for swords, and Ye Gong Haolong are all things that happened to the people of Chu. Natsuhime said.

"Huh? Why don't I know about these things? Let's talk about it. Uncle Xia Yu said.

As soon as Xia Ji heard Uncle Xia Yu say that he didn't know this, he knew that maybe these were things that had not happened to the Chu people, and he remembered them because he had read these texts.

"Then I'll tell you the story of carving a boat and asking for a sword first." Xia Ji said, and then recited the original text of carving the boat to ask for the sword to Uncle Xia Yu: "The Chu people have people who wade the river, and their swords fall into the water from the boat, and they fit their boats, saying: It is the place where my sword falls." The boat stops, and the one to whom it is contracted enters the water to seek it. The boat has been done, but the sword is not, if the sword is like this, isn't it also confusing? ”

Uncle Xia Yu laughed when he heard this, and said: "This thing can only happen in the life of the Chu State, and their style of doing things is like this. ”

"But laugh aside, such an opponent is difficult to deal with, Lord Sima must be careful." Natsuhime said worriedly.

"Yes, the war is fought by national strength, and our country is small and weak, and it is not easy to protect ourselves. Now, in addition to preparing for war, preparing food and grass, and contacting the northern countries, the only way to do this is to wait for the situation to change. Uncle Xia Yu said.