In November, the Grass River is about to freeze, and bright ice crystals have appeared in the puddles along the river. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Some stupid fish were too lazy to hit the water in the middle of the water when autumn came, and stayed in those small puddles, looking desperately at the thickening ice, not knowing when they would freeze in it, and began to regret why they didn't swim against the current into the wide river.

Fish is delicious, especially if you can break through the thin layer of ice and catch it casually, and put it in an iron pot to boil a thick white soup, which is the taste that you can't get tired of eating.

Now there is a pot, a fire and a bun, but Ehuang is not in such a mood, holding a roasted steamed bun and nibbling a few bites, looking into the distance and sighing.

He was about to arrive in Echeng, he was about to go home, and he was about to see his parents, which should have made him happy.

There is no castle in sight, but there are houses and some reclaimed land nearby, and sometimes you can see cow dung or rutted marks on the ground.

Everything seems to be thriving, but in the woods not far away, there is the opposite of life.

More than a dozen corpses were hung from trees, some had been dried purple and black, and their bodies shrunk and tightened. The softness of the eyes had already been pecked clean by the crows, and some of the cheeks had collapsed, but fortunately, the white bones were not exposed in the cold weather.

This is not the first time we have seen each other along the way, since the young man of Echeng who followed Ehuang home after returning to the city after separating from Weixi a few days ago, has witnessed two woods full of corpses with Elu.

It is quite normal that there are slaves on the hook.

But there are also people who are known to E, which is not normal.

Most of them are slaves, and a very few are low-level Chinese, and she is not worried about whether something will happen to her parents, but she is full of worries about hanging so many slaves at once.

Echeng has long since ceased the custom of killing and playing with the living at will, and now everyone is expensive, even if they are slaves, and other cities are running forward quickly, and their parents will not be stupid enough to kill people casually.

A few children who had attended the Yucheng agricultural class walked up to several corpses, pried open the mouths of the corpses with copper swords, smashed their teeth and looked at them like cows and horses, and shouted: "Huang, these people are not very old, and it is better to throw them in the mine to dig than to kill them." ”

She threw away the bun, untied the reins from the car, and said, "Ride back to the city first." Let's all get on the horse. ”

The men hurriedly swallowed the food in their mouths, turned over to their horses, and galloped after E's to the city.

After running for a while, I finally saw six or seven people from the city, who were squatting on the ground, as if sighing there.

Several people who were squatting heard the sound of horses' hooves and recognized Elu, who also had some impression of these people, knowing that they were relatives in their own city.

The land in front of it is planted with wheat, and it is growing very well, and if there is another snow, it will be a good harvest next year, and I don't know what these people are lamenting here.

After seeing each other, Ehuang didn't ask what was going on in the city, if there was really something earth-shattering, these people would have shouted out a long time ago.

Since he was the son of the chief, he could not show any panic at this time, so he got off his horse and sat down with the peasants and chatted with him.

"This wheat grows well, why are you so sad?"

"It's good-looking. Do you know what was planted here before? ”

"What?"

"Indigo! The seeds that we have painstakingly collected and the roots that have been dug up. Hard work is nothing, but you have to know that the indigo roots over there are collected to make medicinal herbs, and how much can they be exchanged for digging so many roots? ”

Ehuang knew about indigo, and she also knew that the blue linen clothes worn by many people in Yucheng were dyed with indigo. Except for the black guards, the rest of the people can only wear black cloth when they go out on the battlefield, or they can wear black military uniforms at will if they have a brass medal for their military exploits, and blue is still the mainstream of daily life.

He also knew that the root of indigo was used to make medicine, and some were rationed every spring and autumn when it was prone to fever and cold.

But he didn't know that the combination of these things would make his people so distressed, and he was worried that he would be regarded as the kind of person who did not distinguish between wheat and leek, as Mr. said, so he resisted the urge to blurt out and asked, and waited for an explanation with a solemn face.

"An acre of indigo can be sold for more copper coins than wheat. We've only grown these in total, but who knows...... Who knew that in May, Xia Cheng suddenly had such a mess. ”

"We thought, Ji Xia will definitely come back, everything is still the same, this indigo can always be sold. Who knew that in July, news came again, saying that Ji Xia was crazy and went to Dongyi with 3,000 people, and he never came back. ”

"At first, we didn't believe it, but then we had to believe it, because the chief sent an envoy to Xia City, and the leaders of those people in Xia City never met before. Everyone has a legend that Ji Xia died in Dongyi, and they all say that Ji Xia was shot by the Dongyi people......"

"Without the acquisition of the Supply and Marketing Division, who will we sell our indigo to?"

"When Yuxia was never separated, this indigo was a copper coin. Yuxia separated, Ji Xia died, and all the people from the Planning and Statistics Department of the Xiacheng Supply and Marketing Department went to the fiefdom of the wolf skin in the west, and this indigo grass is a pile of grass, not even as good as grass. ”

"Brother Huang, do you know how many people this indigo grass will cost? How much more manure should I apply? Growing in vain and wasting the fattest land, and paying a heavier tax every year than wheat beans. In order to clean up this bit of indigo, our family also bought three slaves. ”

"When we found out the news, it felt like the sky was going to fall. Not to mention how much copper money those roots and seeds were sold directly at the beginning, but how much was the labor later? ”

"It was almost August, and we thought, let's plow all these indigo weeds and plant a season of winter wheat, otherwise what can we do?"

"But...... But the wheat had grown, and news came. Ji Xia didn't die at all, and he still won a big victory in Dongyi. Since Ji Xia has won a big victory in Dongyi, isn't it a matter of day and night to return to Xia City? ”

"Wheat is good, but how can it be as good as those indigo?"

Puzzled, she asked, "Why can't you think that what you heard before is fake?" If you don't get rid of these indigo, don't you regret it now? Besides, even if these lands are fertile, can't the same land be cultivated elsewhere, and this indigo grass is ......"

The peasant smiled bitterly: "You left the city to study with Ji Xia, how did you know the changes in the city?" If I don't care about the indigo, and don't let the slaves fertilize and weed, and after a year the grass will flood the indigo, and it will be no different from a wasteland, will it be different? ”

"If I let the slaves fertilize and weed, they will not be able to do other work, and they will have to spend food to feed the slaves, and who knows that Ji Xia did not die at that time?"

Moreover, the city has changed a little, and the fields of indigo are taxable, but they are much heavier than the wheat fields. I will have to pay the tax next spring, and if I can't get the indigo in exchange for copper money, and I have to pay the indigo tax, I'm afraid I'll be a slave." ”

She was even more puzzled, and asked rhetorically, "Reduced to slavery?" Even if you are a clansman, how can you become a slave? ”

Eden carefully recalled the rules of the city, and never remembered a single one that made her people slaves.

The peasant subconsciously replied: "Then there was no money before, and there were many things that did not exist before and now." ”