Everything Jian Chen does is for others to see, so he has to wait for those who are going to come. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The wait was difficult, especially when it was the first time for the entire Xia City to host such a large-scale celebration, and I didn't sleep well for two days in a row.

On the fifteenth day of July, all the people of the various clans who were invited and spontaneously crowded the summer city, and the summer city without expansion could hardly accommodate so many people, so it could only be divided outside, and the high and low had gradually appeared.

With the sacrificial hall of Xia City as the center, the closer to the sacrificial hall the higher the status, nominally the three cities of Xia, Wei and E are equal, but the leaders of those small settlements are far behind, compared to some famous people in the city, they can only be ranked in the outermost.

Because the cultural circle of the river worships the sun, the sacrifice is carried out until noon when the sun is at its hottest, and all the preparations of the summer city have been completed, and several leaders have taken the lead to worship the tribesmen who died in battle, offering them food and wine, and reciting a eulogy, and then the red fish is responsible for writing down these eulogies and imprinting them on clay tablets.

There was silence around the cemetery, three wars in two consecutive years, even though Xia Cheng had institutional and technical advantages, the number of dead and wounded was still quite large, but fortunately, the family was not independent when the war occurred, and the orphans were temporarily raised by the clan.

In the future, with the family as the unit, raising the orphans will require the public property expenditure of Xia Cheng, and Chen Jian sacrificed to the clansmen who died in the war, not only to show respect for the deceased, but also to reassure everyone.

"In the future, if you are disabled, you will be supported by public property. If they die in battle, the city sends slaves to help their families plant the land, and the tax is exempt until the child grows up, and wine and meat are distributed every year, and if the land is not enough to support the child to grow up, the city will always take care of the child. This is the oath of the leader of Xia City, and whoever becomes the leader in the future must follow it. ”

Everyone in Xia Cheng cheered, but Yu Qian'er on Chen Jian's side was full of sadness, she discussed with Chen Jian, and came to the conclusion that if this kind of welfare wants to be supported, it may occupy a large proportion of the public property.

There was no family burden in the early stage, but this burden will increase after a few years, and it will not be relieved until the new generation of Xia Cheng grows up. She, the master of Xia City, is afraid that she will have more things to do in the future.

The two leaders who stood with Jian Chen were also extremely helpless in their hearts, they knew that what Jian Chen said was very good, and they could make the soldiers of Xia City have no worries when fighting, but they couldn't say such good words.

Xia Cheng now has a great technical advantage, a coppersmith does a day's work in exchange for food, which is equivalent to the other two cities of twenty people planting a day's labor, Xia Cheng has a lot of public property, there is such a confidence to say such a thing, but Wei'e and the two cities have not.

E Yue came to Xia Cheng yesterday and saw Xia Cheng's sailboat sailing against the wind, and in addition to being amazed, she also began to regret the oath she made with Jian Chen in the mall more than a year ago: no taxes and fees are allowed for transactions between the two cities.

At that time, there were a lot of woodware, lacquerware, silk, black pottery, etc., and many things could be exchanged from Xiacheng every year; However, in less than a year, in addition to silk and black pottery, which were still being transported to Xiacheng, the rest of Xiacheng was squeezing Echeng's handicraft industry by virtue of the transportation advantage of downstream and the cost advantage of skilled labor.

The pottery and silk in Xiacheng are far inferior, but some small commodities in Xiacheng emerge in an endless stream, gradually leading the trend of wealthy families in Echeng. With the advent of sailboats, Eyue understands that a lot of food in Echeng will be planted for Xia Cheng in the future.

When he swore an oath, he thought he had made a profit, but he didn't expect that Xia Cheng would develop like this a year later, and he couldn't regret it at this time.

In a trance, E Yue suddenly thought that a year ago, there was nothing in Xia Cheng, wheels and sailboats ensured transportation and trading, and these things did not appear at all when the oath was made, could it be said that all this was already thought out by Jian Chen a year ago?

"If that's the case, it's terrible......"

Thinking of this, E Yue quietly glanced at Jian Chen, but found that Jian Chen, as always, was bowing down to those tombstones and praying silently, extremely sincere, and his young face was harmless to humans and animals.

After a long time, after the memorial was over, Jian Chen looked at the sky, turned around and said, "It's almost time, it's time to go to the sacrifice." Those people are still waiting by the river. ”

Those people, naturally, refer to the envoys of the surrounding settlements and the cities that did not send troops to rescue them to the east of the Acropolis. Chen Jian assigned his slaves to build some thatched pavilions on the banks of the Caohe pontoon, and when they arrived, they rested and waited there.

Chen Jian didn't know anything about the various cumbersome rituals of the sacrifice, but the etiquette was nothing more than a way to deter and distinguish status, as long as the purpose was achieved, the remaining details could be handed over to future generations to carve, and someone would always formulate a set of appropriate norms.

By the river, the messengers of the two cities stood in the great shadow of the sailing ship, thinking about the few tributes they had brought, and sighed.

The sailboat docked motionless on the pier, and it was not the immobile sailboat that shocked the two messengers, but the Xia Cheng soldiers lined up along the road.

The majestic chariots lined up on both sides of the road, and in the gap of the chariots were the new army of Xiacheng, and in the hot sun, there was nothing to tremble except for the hair silks dancing in the wind.

An envoy quietly stabbed another person and whispered, "These people have been standing here for about an hour, and they are still in a column, and Xia Cheng's army is so powerful. ”

Naturally, the messenger can't carry a buoyancy leaker with him, but when he is a little older, he will inevitably go to the toilet frequently, and he can still feel it in an hour.

It wasn't that Xia City had an army, any city had an army, and the nature of the army was similar, they were all conscripted slave owners, but the messengers never knew that there was an army that could stand under the scorching sun for an hour, and this level of discipline had broken through their imagination.

When the envoys of the three cities went to their cities, they heard of the great victory over the Sijon people in the mountains, but they only boasted about the two thousand to five thousand, the thunder to help, and the chariot to attack.

Small cities have the sorrow of small cities, and the means such as long-distance friendship and close attack are used by big countries to fight for hegemony, and for small towns to do so is to kill themselves, they have to make friends with the surrounding big cities, and they must also take into account the warnings of those foreign races, and seek survival in the cracks.

After surviving in the cracks for a long time, I have some wisdom in the cracks. Admit mistakes, pay tribute, and give gifts, but they will never stand in line.

After listening to the boasting of the envoys of the three cities, of course they did not believe in the words of victory with less and thunder in many days, but they resolutely expressed their mistake and sent messengers with gifts to calm the anger of the Acropolis.

But there are not many gifts, just a formality, anyway, they are hundreds of miles apart, with the strength of the Acropolis, it is difficult to work on the expedition, and the other two of the three cities that are allied are even farther apart, and the whip is beyond the reach, as long as you express your attitude.

However, at this time, when they saw the Xia Cheng army and those strange chariots that they had never seen before, they already regretted that they had carried too few gifts, at least it seemed that these people really had the strength to break five thousand with two thousand.

A row of the thickest and most majestic soldiers with black pottery balls hung from their bodies, which was the source of the words that the messengers had heard about the Heavenly Thunder Battle, they had heard it from others, but they did not understand the power of these strange stone balls.

While a few people were discussing in a low voice, there were suddenly two loud noises in the clear sky, and the messenger was startled, and almost sat on the ground, his ears buzzing.

But looking around, the children in Xia Cheng were accustomed to it, cheering and shouting, "Put two more, put two more." ”

The joyful child was in stark contrast to the earth-colored messenger, and the messenger reacted that this was the legendary heavenly thunder to help him.

When the soldiers on the side heard the sound, they immediately reorganized their formations according to the movements they had practiced for several days, and the original horizontal formation, after a little confusion, turned into a column, standing like pine trees.

At this time, Chen Jian and the two leaders also came to the river with the thunder in a chariot, and hundreds of soldiers shouted in unison: "Three cities and ten thousand victories!" Summer City wins! ”

Qi Qi shouted a few times, adding to the majesty, Chen Jian deliberately let the driver go very slowly, the chariots of the three leaders did not advance side by side, his chariot was slightly ahead of the other two.

In the midst of hoarse shouts, Chen Jian came to the side of the frightened envoys and the leaders of the settlements, and after getting out of the car, the envoys saluted Chen Jian according to the understanding of the city, and the leaders of the settlements also showed respect and submission in various strange gestures.

The soldiers lined up in two columns and escorted them to the vicinity of the altar.

Chen Jian is the leader of Xia Cheng, so naturally he presides over the sacrifice, and in the sacrificial hall are not only the ancestors of the so-called relatives of the Dahe Cultural Circle fabricated by Xia Cheng, but also the fertility grandmothers, sunflowers, and so on worshiped by the Dahe Cultural Circle.

"Thanks to the protection of the ancestors, thanks to heaven and earth, Xia Cheng did not violate the blood oath of his relatives, sent troops to Shanze, and defeated the Xirong people. Sacrifices are offered here for the ancestors to enjoy, to bless the wind and rain, and to bless invincibility. ”

After the simple sacrifice, Wei and E also worshiped with Chen Jian, and then offered sacrifices.

Because of the huge role of ox ploughing and war horses in life, cattle and horses have become the first of the three animals in this world, squeezing out the position of deer.

After the thirteen sacrifices were placed one by one, the four people slowly carried a wooden platform with a two-foot-high bronze vessel on it, which was the protagonist of this sacrifice and an important part of letting these people know the strength of Xia Cheng.

People stared intently at the bronze object, and many thought it was a dream and shook their heads blankly.

It was a flower, a bronze flower with visible petals, a spiritual pillar of the Great River's worship of light and the sun, a flower that always bloomed towards the sun, around which the relatives once surrounded it, defeated many enemies and ended the long-standing tribal strife.

The workmanship of the flowers is not exquisite, and there are many imperfections, but those small petals and thick trunks testify to the level of bronze casting in Xia Cheng.

The thirteen petals are arranged in a ring, which Jian Chen took the coppersmith to make for a long time, because the bronze is very brittle and cannot be forged, but can only be melted and cast, so such a small flower is far more terrifying than those swords, guns, swords, halberds.

The petals are cast in advance, leaving a handle, but the stem is cast, and the handle of the copper petals cast in advance is inserted into the mold when the stem is cast, and the handle is fused with the stem after pouring, and only the petals are exposed.

In the previous life, Sanxingdui in the Xia Dynasty era cast a three-meter-high bronze divine tree, and at this time, the casting level of Xia Cheng was still far behind, but those who understood could see what Chen Jian wanted them to see.

The casting is a flower, the flower of the sun, the most sacred flower in the cultural circle of sun worship and light worship, which was drawn by Chen Jian after asking many people who migrated here from both sides of the river, and it is also an expression: Xia Cheng is willing to worship the light, is willing to follow your faith, we are not barbarians, we are your relatives.

After the four of them carried the sunflower to the altar, the tribes and messengers who came to pay tribute and celebrated offered their own sacrifices, no matter how much or small, even if it was a handful of thatch, it was okay, the important thing was the attitude.

There were many offerings full, and Chen Jian asked about the specialties near the settlements one by one, and after the surrender brought by military deterrence, Chen Jian divided the future tribute items of these settlements according to the distance from the three cities.

and he that is near will sow millet, let him offer fresh millet with stalks; If you can't plant a little farther away, you should offer the feathers of the glued feather arrows; Those farther and even poorer are asked to offer medicinal herbs, furs, mussel shells, and even grass sprouts.

The amount is not much, and the annual feedback will not be less, but it must be paid, otherwise it will be conscripted. Those settlements had seen the military might of Xia City, heard the thunder of the dry day, and received promises that they would help them grow corn and build houses, and they all said that they would never go back.

After the people from these settlements expressed their attitudes, Jian Chen's eyes swept over the envoys of the two cities like lightning, and asked, "You and the Acropolis are both brothers and relatives, and you swore an oath twenty years ago that you would send troops when you encountered the barbarians, do you know that you violated the oath?" ”

The two messengers bowed and said, "Our leader has already known that he is wrong, and he has presented three pairs of jade objects, and he will never break his oath again." ”

Before they returned, the leaders had discussed with them that if the Tri-Cities Alliance was really as powerful as those people had said, they could only promise it.

The envoy smiled when he saw that Jian Chen heard the gift of jade, and his heart was shocked, and he hurriedly said, "The leader can't come because of illness, but let's make an oath with the three leaders." We are a small city, but if we go to war in the future, we will send a hundred and fifty soldiers. ”

The messenger of another city also hurriedly agreed, saying that this time he came in a hurry, and that the sacrifice of the main priest was not ready, and that there would be enough gifts for the next sacrifice.

Because the distance was too far to reach, all Chen Jian needed was an attitude from the other party, so he agreed.

Subsequently, the leaders of the three cities cut their fingers, dripped blood into the wine and drank together, and swore to form a brotherly alliance, witnessed by the ancestors and heaven and earth, and would not attack each other, one city was attacked, and the other two cities would send troops, etc., Chen Jian also said that he could sell some bronze weapons, and even sell some gunpowder tamines after three years.

After the oath of the three cities, the clansmen outside shouted in support, and then the three of them swore an oath with the leaders of the rest of the settlements, and the tribute they offered each year was divided equally among the three cities, and when the troops were dispatched, these settlements would also produce as few as three or five or as many as dozens of people according to their population.

When Yu Qian'er brought out the various gifts in return, the atmosphere in the sacrificial hall reached its peak, Chen Jian knew that if this set of rituals was placed in the previous life, people would laugh off their big teeth, but the etiquette in this era is not standardized, and he is a person who seeks results, so he didn't think so much.

With laughter and laughter, Jian Chen led everyone to the venue that had been prepared a long time ago, ready to start a carnival that they had never experienced.

In the shrine, the bronze flower stood, enjoying the amazement and joy of many people before leaving, and the craftsmen who made the bronze flower hid in the crowd, listening to the people praise the miracles made by their hands, infinitely satisfied. (To be continued.) )