Tianhao had already heard a lot of similar words, and he could understand the gratitude of these people, including the old priest, but after hearing too many of the same words, he didn't care.

Recently, he has been very busy, and he has been busy with various affairs, if he didn't want to take this opportunity to talk to the old priest properly, Tianhao would not have left the work at hand and followed him to this kind of place to express his feelings.

"I heard that the Great Master is your teacher?" Tianhao casually plucked a green grass stalk from his feet, bit off the white part of the green onion, and chewed slowly.

The young stems of this plant are a bit sweet, which is considered a natural snack.

These words evoked memories for the old priest. He fell silent and nodded slowly. After a long time, he said slowly: "He was my former teacher, and later ...... I met another teacher. ”

Tianhao knew that he was referring to Zhan Jianhua.

"The great master doesn't like him." The old priest searched his mind for memories.

Tianhao keenly grasped the core of the question: "You mean, there has been an intersection between the great teacher and your teacher?" ”

The old priest nodded: "It should be, I don't know the specific situation." During that time, I was troubled, and the great teacher repeatedly advised me not to follow the teacher, who he thought that the knowledge imparted by the teacher was problematic, and it might even be a heresy of blasphemy. ”

Tianhao's eyes flashed slightly: "For example?" ”

"Let women not have children, and let men be sterilized." The old priest controlled the volume so that no one else could hear it, and his expression was mixed with wistfulness: "Actually, I think some of the teacher's words are right, the food production has not been able to go up, and having too many children will only make life difficult." Rather than everyone not having enough to eat, it would be good for everyone to control population growth. ”

Tianhao fell into deep thought.

……

The territory of the deer clan, Suimu Village.

The weather was getting hotter, and there was no fire in the chief's hut, no tables, and a few clay plates on the ground with simple food.

Fu Quan took a bite of the bread, the rough taste was so terrible, his tongue seemed to be pricked by countless needles, he quickly spit the food in his mouth on the plate, picked up the bowl in front of him, and drank a large mouthful of broth.

His expression instantly became weird, Fu Quan felt very uncomfortable, there was a big smell of urine in the soup, mixed with a strong fishy smell, this feeling was so weird, if it wasn't for his guest status, he really wanted to open his mouth and squirt out, and then rinse his mouth with water.

He forced himself to swallow the unpalatable soup.

He opened his mouth and exhaled a long breath of a foul smell that even Fuquan himself found unbearable, feeling that he had finally left hell and entered a world of human activity.

Guangping, the leader of Suimu Village, sat opposite and looked at him expectantly: "How is it, is it delicious?" This is a fang-toothed pig that I hunted from the mountains last week, and I have been keeping it and not wanting to eat it. ”

Fuquan looked at the pot of broth with a frightened gaze.

Of course, he knew that the meat in the soup came from a fanged pig, but Fuquan swore that he had never eaten such terrible meat.

…… Well, since it is an oath, when it comes to the gods, it must be honest and not lie.

A long time ago, when I was the leader of Zuo Suozhai, I did drink this stinking broth, and more than once.

Speaking of which, there was no way around it at that time. There is a shortage of food, and everyone has no oil and water in their stomachs. Occasionally, I went up the mountain to get some prey, and I was so careful that I couldn't even chew the bones and swallow them. As long as it is a large animal, there are intestines, the large intestine must be washed clean, the small intestine is reluctant to wash, the meat is full of oil, and the thrifty barbarians throw blood and oil into the pot to cook together.

It wasn't until he led the whole village to take refuge in Panshi City that Fuquan knew that there was a saying in the world called "food refinement".

In the same way as dealing with the intestines of fanged pigs, the Niu women of Rock City brought fine crushed sand grains from the seaside, first rinsed them with clean water, then cut the pig's intestines, and dipped their hands in the sand grains and rubbed them continuously. This method is said to be the sole proprietor of the young lord, and only in this way can the dirt on the internal folds of the intestinal tube be rubbed off, and the final rinse is also very laborious, and the sand must be cleaned, otherwise it will feel terrible in the mouth.

The current Fuquan has long been unable to look down on the pork intestine stew. He felt it was necessary for him to teach Guangping a lesson in food. Who made him both the leader of Suimu Village and my distant relative?

"It's better not to boil the intestines, it's delicious to stew it with soy sauce. That one...... You don't know what soy sauce is, do you? It is the juice pinched out of soybeans and stored in a jar for a period of time, which is very fragrant. ”

"Look what kind of soup you're cooking! The meat was not washed, not to mention, and even the hair on the pigskin was not shaved off. You have to make it a little more delicate, let the woman put the pigskin on the fire and roast it, and the fire will be gone, how simple. ”

"And the pig's head in your soup...... Alas, don't talk about it, it must not have been washed, it was directly cut in half and cooked, isn't it? ”

Guangping listened with a confused face, there were a few words that Fuquan didn't understand just now, but he felt very tall, and there was an indescribable awe, and now he returned to the topic he was familiar with, and nodded hurriedly: "Yes, it's just cut in half, and it's always been cooked like this." ”

"That's why this soup doesn't taste good!" Fu Quan's face was distressed: "Have you ever taken out the pig's nose?" It's full of snot. What are these slimy yellow things in pig ears? And the pig face, you see, you see...... The pigskin was piled up layer by layer, and the middle part had not even been washed, so I could pick out a large piece with my fingernails. ”

When there is a lack of food, you can't pick and choose, and a fanged pig must be accurately calculated from the moment it is killed, including every drop of blood in the body belongs to food. According to the opinion of the northern barbarians, especially the low-level civilians, except for the large intestine, which must be cleaned, the rest of the parts should not be processed at all. The most common way is to use a knife to scrape on the surface of the pigskin, the force is not too heavy, according to the old man, when shaving the pig's hair too hard, the grease will be scraped off, it is a pity to do that, will be a lot of people with their fingers poke and scold the "loser".

Although Suimu Village is a large village with a population of more than 4,000, the leader Guangping was a junior before Fuquan. This complex blood relationship can be traced back to the generation of Fuquan's great-grandfather. In fact, after so many years, many relatives have been scattered, and even cousins have become estranged from each other. Fuquan is a good man, although he is not very good at business and has no political acumen, but he belongs to the type that is quite popular in a big family environment and has an excellent reputation.

In the past, when he was the leader of Zuosuo Village, he often interacted with other village leaders in the surrounding area, this family sent hundreds of catties of wheat, and that family gave some salt. There are not many things, but the human exchange is nothing more than that, in the words of Fuquan: usually everyone has a good relationship, and they will help each other when they encounter difficulties. Therefore, although there are few people in Zuosuozhai, the leaders of nearby villages are willing to call him brothers and sisters, and they have close contacts.

Guangping is six years younger than Fuquan, and usually calls Fuquan "big brother". At the beginning, Fuquan took Zuo Suozhai to Panshi City, Guangping was shocked and frightened, he felt that the king of the deer clan must be very angry, and then sent troops. If this is the case, when he encounters Fuquan on the battlefield, Guangping himself doesn't know what to do.

Unexpectedly, Fuquan actually came to Suimu Village with more than a dozen guards. He kept saying that "just to walk around relatives and see old friends". Speaking of which, it is not easy for Guangping to arrest Fuquan according to the well-defined camp between the enemy and the enemy. He ordered the gate of the village to be closed, brought Fuquan into his private house, and asked his daughter-in-law to take out the fanged pig hunted last week from under the pyre, cut the meat and cook the soup, and treat this long-lost relative and old friend.

Fuquan was still the same as before, smiling, and never mentioned a word about the Niu people.

His smile made people feel very comfortable, picked up the chopsticks and clicked on the pig ears in the bowl in front of him, and asked, "Ah Ping, have you salted this pork?" ”

"Of course it was pickled, otherwise how could it have been left until now? It stinks for a long time! Guangping didn't think much about it, and opened his mouth to answer.

"It stinks." Fuquan simply stopped eating, directly inserted the chopsticks into the pig's ears, sighed and shook his head again and again: "You must be reluctant to use salt, the meat is not delicious, and you can't stand the heat." When this soup was served, I thought it tasted a little weird, and if you don't believe it, it really smells bad. ”

This is not nonsense, Guangping himself knows it. He squeezed out a smiling face: "Brother Fuquan, you have become so picky now!" Before you had to change it, you couldn't stop eating this pot of broth...... Hehe, it seems that life in Rock City is too good, you dislike me? ”

"Nonsense!" Fuquan glared at him angrily: "It's all my own brothers, how can you say such things?" ”

Guangping is not a fool, he still smiled: "You came this time, it shouldn't be as simple as having a meal, right?" ”

Fuquan didn't answer his question directly, he moved forward and lowered his voice, "Ah Ping, tell me honestly, is there enough food in the village last year?" ”

Guangping shook his head, this is not a secret, as long as you pay a little attention to it, you can know. He put away the smile on his face, and his expression became gloomy: "Last year, there was little rain, and the crops in the field were barely okay. I really couldn't help it, I changed 400 people to go out, and this is how it has been until now. ”

Fuquan was deeply sympathetic to this: "It's difficult for you! ”

Guangping sighed and shook his head: "No way, we mainly grow cotton, and in previous years, we used cotton cloth to exchange food for the lion people." Last year, for some reason, the lion tribe said that the grain harvest was poor, and the price of grain had risen by one and a half compared with previous years. I took out all the cotton cloth in the storeroom and changed it, and now I ...... The warehouse is empty. ”

"Leonin?" Fuquan let out a contemptuous snort: "What do they exchange for your cotton cloth?" Or dried potatoes and cornmeal? ”

"It's always been these, and the leonins can't come up with anything other than these two things." Guangping smacked his lips, his eyes flashing with longing: "If only we could grow corn and potatoes ourselves, everyone wouldn't have to starve." ”

"Don't dream, how can there be such a good thing." Fu Quan smiled and stabbed him in the shoulder with his fist, and continued to ask, "What are you going to do this year?" ”

"This year?" Guangping's reaction was a little slow, he didn't know how to answer for a while, and thought for a while: "Cotton has been planted, and so is wheat, but I estimate that even if the autumn harvest is good, it will be difficult to have surplus grain in the village." ”

Fu Quan didn't squeak, he slowly lowered his head, pulled out the chopsticks inserted in the pig's ears, and slowly stirred in the already cold soup bowl.

"A few years ago, the situation in Zuo Suozhai was similar to what you are now. There was not enough food to eat, so I had to use cotton cloth to find the lion people to exchange. They're all black-hearted dog mongrels, and a good piece of cotton can only be exchanged for half a pocket of cornmeal. Come to think of it, that's cotton! From spinning to weaving, is it easy for the women in the village to work hard day and night? As a result, two or three sentences were said to be worthless. For a long time, Fuquan made a voice mixed with anger.

Guangping opened his mouth, but did not speak. He sat there without moving, looking at Fuquan with puzzled eyes, and after half a minute, he asked uncertainly: "Brother Fuquan, do you want me to follow you to Rock City together?" ”

Fuquan did not directly persuade: "Let me ask you, how do you plan to let the people in the village spend this winter?" ”

Without waiting for Guangping to answer, he raised his hand and made a blocking gesture: "Don't tell me anything about taking one step at a time, it's all fart." It's spring, you're all like this, how long can you go? ”

Guangping argued with difficulty: "This year's grain prices may come down, and then they will ......."

"Impossible!" Fuquan vetoed on the spot: "I know how dark the hearts of the lion people are. They are always pushing down the price to death, especially when the year is not good, the price is even more fierce. Remember that famine twelve years ago? All the tribes had nothing to eat, and everyone ran to the lion tribe to change food. Five pieces of cotton for half a pocket of cornmeal...... These goddamn dog mongrels, they really dare to open this mouth. In the earliest days, one cotton cloth could be exchanged for five sacks of grain, and even higher. They are clearly taking advantage of the fire to rob and not give us a way to live! ”

Guangping knew what Fuquan said, he lowered his head and hesitated: "Actually, we don't have to find the lion people to exchange food, we can go to Stag City to explain the situation to the king, so ......"

"When did the king take care of us?" Fuquan unceremoniously interrupted him: "The amount of grain handed over every year is so high, and the tax rate has been continuously increased in recent years, Zuosuozhai has been selling people for several years, and then look at your Suimu Village, I'm afraid there are not even four thousand people now, right?" ”

Guangping nodded slowly and heavily: "Three thousand eight hundred and six, this is the number I counted last week." ”

"If this continues, in no more than two years, there will only be 3,000 people left in Suimu Village at most." Fuquan's tone became intense: "Ah Ping, how long can you hold out?" Feeding the people in the village is not as simple as paying lip service, they have to eat every day, otherwise they will starve to death. ”