As he spoke, someone sent a hoe and other utensils, Zhang Yue was in a mess, and he didn't listen carefully, so he took a step forward to get the hoe and said, "I'll come, I'll come!" He was pulled by Su Xun.

Yan Jue laughed loudly: "You come?" You're here again? Are you a woman! ”

Zhang Yue reacted, his face turned red, he pinched the hoe tightly and didn't let go, Su Xun took the hoe and whispered in his ear: "How did the adults mess up today?" Rest assured, Lord Thorn Shi has his own measure. ”

Zhang Yue glanced at him, smiled bitterly in his heart, thinking that if he would not be so flustered on weekdays, it was not because of ...... But thinking of Wen Zhen's previous warning, he couldn't reveal the wind, so he had to sigh and loosen the hoe.

Over there, Wen Zhen didn't give Yan Jue a chance to continue to taunt Zhang Yue, and had already answered: "Yes." It is inconvenient to ask for rain to sacrifice the officials, these seven women dig ditches, and the officials are parents and officials, and they should always do their part. ”

Yan Jue smiled and said, "This king thought that Lord Thorn Shi would continue to push and shove." After all, those three conditions, I don't know if Lord Thorn Shi meets them, if any of them don't match, it will cause the sky to be angry, not to mention that if you can't ask for rain, it won't be good if you can't ask for rain. ”

Zhang Yue's heart jumped again. I knew that Yan Jue's words were sinister. But seeing Wen Zhen's calm expression, he looked around: "It's always bad for Mrs. Wang to sell melons, so I would like to ask you fellow villagers and elders, do you think this official is suitable?" ”

The surrounding people were happy in unison: "It's very suitable!" The adults personally begged for rain, regardless of the hard work for the people, personally carried out the cheap labor, and saw the heart of loving the people, we are grateful! ”

Zhang Yue once again sighed in his heart for the flexibility and cunning of Lord Shi, the choice is given to the people, in the future, if there is a mistake in the "chastity and flawlessness", it is the people's own choice, no wonder, seeing that Yan Jue was angry and his face was crooked, he suddenly felt happy, but seeing that the hoe was handed to the pregnant woman who was going to give birth, he couldn't wait to snatch the hoe in his heart, and first slashed the hoe to cut the traitorous king.

At that moment, the quota of the seven daughters was discussed. Because Wen Zhen personally participated, the rest of the people naturally had to choose from those who were not ordinary or close to her. Cai Sang has already rushed over, so naturally she has to accompany her young lady, and the jackdaw is also one, and the cold warbler has always been incognito. Bai Lin's daughter volunteered, Jun Moxiao also came with the eldest lady of Mrs. Zhang's family, Jun Moxiao wanted to participate, but was stopped by Wen Zhen's eyes, and Miss Zhang participated, plus the daughter of a famous Confucian and a county guard present, and soon made up seven people.

I heard that Lord Thorn Shi personally took the lead in digging the gutter, and the people of Huzhou were a sensation, so they all followed to see it, and the seven women dug the ditch and asked for the gutter of seven families. Everyone followed Wen Zhen and picked seven nearby families, and they didn't really have to dig the gutter, that is, wield a hoe to make a show. Yan Jue said that if he didn't open the gutter, where would he get the water? Scratch! It's really hot!

Traditionally, this kind of thing has paid attention to a piety, some people have said so, and if you want to prevaricate, it will be disrespectful, and everyone will feel that it is really more pious to open the gutter, and the success rate of praying for rain will be greater. Wen Zhen didn't say anything, immediately put on a hat, rolled up his sleeves, and took a few young ladies to dig the gutter with a hoe and a hoe.

On weekdays, this work is nothing, but the weather is hot and the gutter stinks, so it is quite difficult. Bai Lin's daughter and Da Confucian's daughter, who are already sweating when they run up and down twice, smell the stench and stomach surge, look at Wen Zhen who is quiet, can only use a handkerchief to tie his nose, it is easy to wave the heavy hoe, and almost hoe Wen Zhen's feet again, and was glared at by Cai Sang, so he and the two jackdaws squeezed a few young ladies away, and sped up the hoe, so that Wen Zhen could be relieved as soon as possible.

Wen Zhen was calm and quiet, standing on top of the mound, holding the hoe in a standard posture, the movement was strong and steady, the hoe seemed unpleasant, but he quickly took the lead in cutting out half of it, and all the villagers looked at the expression and movement of Lord Thorn Shi, and they all nodded secretly in their hearts.

Zhang Yue stared at the large sweat stains that quickly leaked out on Wen Zhen's back, and his eyes were a little red.

Su Xun walked away silently and went to call for people to prepare light salt water.

As soon as a ditch was finished, the young lady of the Confucian was gone, because she couldn't be replaced halfway, and then she dragged a hoe with red eyes. After two ditches, the county guard's daughter spit it out, and brought the light salt water prepared for Wen Zhen to rinse her mouth, and then it was a delicate flower that looked like it, and even the hoe was dragged by the jackdaw for her; After the three ditches, Bai Lin's daughter, who still wanted to hold on to death, cried and was carried out of the ditch by Caisang jackdaws, but she couldn't even cry tears, Wen Zhen saw that her face was not good, and personally fed her a medicine, Bai Lin stood a few feet away, unable to go over because of his identity and position, a pair of fists in his sleeves were clenched tightly, and he turned his head and glanced at Yan Jue in a vague way.

Not only him, but also the great Confucian, the wealthy businessman with a high status, secretly looked at Yan Jue's eyes, and they were all very unkind.

Jun Moxiao was originally a little anxious to watch from the sidelines, but at this moment he suddenly understood Wen Zhen's intentions - Yan Jue's tossing in Huzhou these days, most of the people who have offended are the people, and most of the officials and gentlemen are surrounded by him, but if he picks up the gutter today, he will be offended.

Our family's pit of Lord Shi's assassination is really caught off guard everywhere.

It's just that no matter what, in such weather, a pregnant woman who is about to give birth does such heavy work, Jun Moxiao is also extremely uneasy in his heart, and he just hopes that this work will be completed quickly, and Yan Jue will not be able to be a demon again.

It's easy to finish the seven gutters, and the rest is almost all the work done by Wen Zhen jackdaw, and the people followed all the way, seeing that Lord Thorn Shi really took this extremely hard and tiring work on his shoulders, and his eyes were much kinder.

This real enthusiasm looked at Yan Jue's eyes, naturally 120,000 points of unhappiness, thinking about embarrassing this woman, but it turned out that she bought people's hearts, and the crowd Chinese Zhen thanked the people with a smile, and turned his head to him: "This official has just done his part, and you villagers don't have to thank me." His Royal Highness Dingwang is the respect of the prince, the sky is noble, and he has to pray for rain on the altar in person, this is the virtuous king who sympathizes with the suffering of the people of Huzhou. ”

Everyone turned their heads and stared at Yan Jue, Yan Jue's expression froze, and then he remembered the words he used to trap Wen Zhen before-only the effect of the noble person digging the ditch himself, so the noble person personally begging for rain will naturally please the heavens more.

has been put up, and seeing Wen Zhen being loved, His Royal Highness King Ding will naturally not be cowardly at this moment, so he got up with a cold snort, snatched the "Dragon Temple to the Gods and Prayers for Rain" in Zhang Yue's hand, walked up to the stage, burned incense and recited.

Read, read, read, read.

I can't finish reading it.

The roll of paper is longer than expected, not only long, but also bent teeth, four and six, allusions everywhere, obscure words, he is a prince, early enlightenment, naturally not unlearned, but reading this article also feels difficult, and afraid of showing timidity, can only mobilize all the spirit, and the scorching sun is in the sky, the high platform is uncovered, the strong aroma of the three pillars of green smoke in front of him smoked the throat that was already dry and hoarse, the sweat on his forehead dripped down, fell on the paper, and the tadpole-like ink was smeared, he stared at those words, and felt that his brain was buzzing, It's getting more and more unrecognizable.

However, he had to read it, otherwise it would reach the imperial court, and the dignified son would not be able to read even a book begging for rain, and his father would be able to send him to three thousand miles away.

The sound of cicadas was like a burst, and the dust on the ground was puffed up, and there was no wind at all, so it stopped in mid-air, and it seemed like it would burn in the next moment.

Yan Jue finally felt the pain of Wen Zhen and their gutters before.

The gutters are still under the eaves!

Wen Zhen was sitting in the shade of a tree at the moment, eating watermelon, fanning the wind, listening to prayers, and laughing.

"The Book of Prayer for Rain at the Dragon Temple", the full text is more than 16,000 words.

Zhang Yue probably thought that she might be asked to ask for rain, so she prepared a long sacrifice in advance, preparing to delay until the sun went down, so that she would not be so hot when she came to the stage again.

She had seen the approximate number of words at a glance.

A gentleman's revenge is a quarter of an hour too late.

……

It's easy for Yan Jue to get off the stage after reading, and he didn't even light the last incense, and the sweat of the vest was wet and dry and wet, and a circle of salt stains had already formed.

Wen Zhen saw that his face was pale and he was about to suffer from heat stroke, so he hurriedly ordered someone to replenish his water and fan him - he can't just pour it now, he still needs to continue to be a demon!

Yan Jue stepped down, thinking that it would be so hard, so that he could get the love of the people and balance his mentality, but he looked around and asked in amazement: "What about people?" Where have they gone? ”

"Oh, Your Highness, that's right. When dinner time came, everyone went to dinner, and when they came back from eating, they had the strength to continue. ”

Before Wen Zhen's words fell, a woman in the distance was probably calling her playful boy: "Qiangzi! Hadron! Hurry up and come home for dinner! Death, listen to what is delayed until now! Then a sharp children's voice panted back, "Just come, just come, don't listen, stammer, I haven't read well before the old master Liu, who sells straw shoes next door!" ”

Yan Jue: "......"

His Royal Highness King Ding fell into the chair and stroked his chest.

This time I really had a heat stroke......

……

When His Royal Highness King Ding suffered from heat stroke, everyone rushed back after dinner, and the sun went down a lot, and it was not so hot, Wen Zhen stepped forward leisurely, lit the incense that King Ding forgot to light again, held it in his hand, and prayed sincerely.

Her prayer is not long, far inferior to Zhang Yue's writing, but the sentiment is deep, and the angle is very rich and bizarre, first of all, she talks about the suffering of the people after a long drought and no rain, "There is no rain in March, the people of thousands of miles depend on the people for their livelihood, and they have no food, the old and weak are tossing and turning and dying, and the young and strong are running to think that they are thieves......" and then talked about the dependence and coexistence between God and the people," ...... The country is people-oriented, God is based on the people, the people of Huzhou are all pure sons of gods, how can a loving mother endure the embarrassment of a child? "Then follow the convention, depreciate and blame yourself, and take the blame for yourself, in order to save the people," ...... But there are many sins, how innocent is the people! The sorrow of criminal politics is a certain body; Don't abuse my people, and don't hurt my people! Then the conversation changed, and after scolding himself, he began to curse God, "...... Those who lack government to protect the people are also responsible for assassinating history; It is the duty of God to send rain to help all people; From time to time, the wind and rain are not born, how can I only be guilty of Cao? The gods are not to blame! "In the end, the general will be complimented with the compliment, and the threat will coexist with the temptation," ...... Respect and responsibility, only the king is known, Dazu Datong, not the king has it, the past generations have prayed, the spirit should be impressive, if there is no order and no year, then the dragon is ashamed! If there is no rain for a long time, the people run away from the ghosts of prostitution, and occasionally meet with the rain, then the people will return to the ghosts, and the obscene shrine will flourish and the dragon temple will be barren...... And if the age is not abundant, then why is it for the king to be endowed with incense for the gods? If it is given in the end, then it should be rich in wine and sweet fat, and the temple will be worshipped, so as to inherit the ...... of God"

This prayer is Wen Zhen's train of thought, Zhang Yue's polish, all kinds of allusions are not needed, simply put, you don't rain, I am very poor, this is naturally because I didn't do a good job as an official, I am willing to bear the guilt of a body, please don't abuse my people, but it is my responsibility to take care of civil affairs, it is your responsibility to take care of the sky, you have such magical powers, in previous years, all the gods and goddesses took good care of me Huzhou, and Huzhou became like this when you came here, are you ashamed? It always doesn't rain, and the people go to ask for the crooked way, in case one day the blind cat encounters a dead mouse and a few drops of drizzle, the people will think that it is the effect of those mountain spirits and ghosts, and they all go to worship those evil gods, who will pay attention to you in the future? And we have no food, no money, we can't pay taxes, and we still have money to offer you incense? Of course, if it rains quickly, then we will not only give you a lot of wine and fat, but also expand the temple for you, increase the offerings, and have a lot of silver......

The people knelt at the bottom, listening to this brilliant masterpiece from crying to mourning to being justified and arrogant to scolding and coercion, luring and seducing both soft and hard with private goods, and at the same time countless mosquito coils appeared in their eyes, they only felt breathtaking.

What His Royal Highness Dingwang read, they didn't understand, they listened impatiently, and when Lord Shi read it, they couldn't understand it very well, and they all felt: burn! Refreshing! Joyfully! Guts! And that makes sense!

Yan Jue looked at the sparkling little eyes of everyone looking at Wen Zhen, and suddenly felt that he had become a huge stone, and was stepped on by Wen Zhen, the banshee, and climbed up again, thinking that his 17,000 words were sunstroke, and this woman cheated all the credit in the shade after dinner in a few hundred words, and her eyes turned blue with anger for a while, and she said loudly: "Said that he was going to burn the drought!" ”

This sound immediately shocked everyone, burning the drought is one of the most important rituals in the Huzhou rain ceremony. The drought is the daughter of the Yellow Emperor, ugly and bald, where it is, thousands of miles of red land, but the land of the family where the drought is his own descendants are not dry, and the corpses in the grave of the drought must be picked out and burned, and it will rain.

There is a hill behind the Dragon Temple, and there are many graves and trees on the mountain, according to the rules, you will go to the mountain to find a place that is relatively free from drought, which is the location of the drought. But that mountain is a treasure of feng shui, there are many cemeteries of large families, and there are also many ancestors of Huzhou people, and no one can allow their ancestral graves to be picked up, so wizards will also do a trick first, find an ownerless lonely grave, and make a corpse that has accumulated for years.

At this time, Yan Jue shouted, everyone hurriedly stepped forward, and the people who were ready to go up the mountain with tools, Yan Jue saw that the mountain was cool, and there was spring water, so he also let carry the sedan chair and go up the mountain together, he naturally would not let Wen Zhen go, and wanted Wen Zhen to follow with him, he originally wanted Wen Zhen to follow on foot, seeing Wen Zhen laughing madly, the people behind her were not good-looking, so she had to forget it, sit on the sedan chair, and leave first.

As soon as Wen Zhen heard the word "burn", he frowned at first, thought about it, and whispered a few words to Bai Lin who stayed below. Let him prepare at the foot of the mountain the water dragon that he had built before, and there will be a well nearby, so that it will not be difficult to get water for emergencies.

Because of the blockage in his heart, His Royal Highness King Dingwang didn't like anything all the way, he was still a little interested in finding a dry fish, and casually looked at a big tomb, so he pointed: "This tomb looks a little crooked, there may be a problem!" ”

A local official in the crowd immediately blackened his face – it was his father's grave.

Yan Jue indiscriminately pointed to another family: "This cemetery is so big, is it going to be a mausoleum!" If the grass is well served, there must be a drought fish hidden! ”

Li Liancheng followed the crowd, stuffing the prince with silver, and at the same time wanted to kick His Royal Highness Dingwang into the ravine, which was his family's cemetery.

After a few words of persuasion, Yan never spoke, but after following the wizard around a few times, he became impatient, and when he saw the wizard stop in front of an ownerless lonely grave and drag out a tattered white bone, he was immediately disappointed.

The sorcerer will wrap the bones and bring them down the mountain and burn them on the altar. Yan said impatiently: "Such a dirty thing, take it down the mountain to do it, and when it gets to the bottom, it's hot, so it's burned here!" ”

Wen Zhen immediately said: "Your Highness, the weather is dry, this place is full of hay, and there must not be any sparks." Once a wildfire is lit......"

"Will this king not understand? This king is here, watch it burn until the fire is all out before leaving, do you think you think of Lord Thorn Shi? ”

"Your Highness......"

"Shut up."

Wen Zhen glanced at the anger in Yan Jue's eyes and smiled, "Then please ask Your Highness to preside." ”

"It's burning!"

The fire was lit, the weather was dry enough, and after a while, the so-called drought was burned to ashes, and Yan Jue was not completely ignorant of the severity, seeing that the fire was extinguished, he said, "Leave one person to watch all the sparks are extinguished before leaving, and the rest of the people will go down the mountain." ”

Wen Zhen also wanted to leave someone to watch, but Yan Jueyin said with pity, "Lord Assassin Shi, this is a person who doesn't believe in this king, do you think this king will definitely set fire to the mountain?" I stopped it, so I had to smile and go down the mountain with Yan Jue.

The people looked coldly at Yan Jue's various demons, and they all looked at Wen Zhen with sympathy.

I heard that His Royal Highness King Ding and Lord Assassin Shi did not deal with each other, and he had been under house arrest under the matter of Feng Baocang, taking over Huzhou, and doing the opposite, and some people were puzzled, Lord Assassin Shi was not a person who was so easy to be robbed of power before, this was not Lord Assassin's strategy or something, but what I saw with my own eyes today is that His Royal Highness King Ding is really hated by gods, and his identity is noble, but it is really difficult to be Lord Assassin.

Yan Jue noticed everyone's eyes, and suddenly became more irritable, seeing that the fire was almost burned and was about to leave, he himself had always had bad intentions, seeing that Wen Zhen was also a bad person, afraid that Wen Zhen would stay to do his hands, so Wen Zhen must also go down the mountain immediately, Wen Zhen also followed behind the mighty team, and finally went down the mountain, and looked back when he went down the mountain, Yan Jue really left someone looking at the last spark, the man also stepped on the fire, waited for a while, and saw that the last spark was extinguished, and there was no wind today, it must be safe, Then he turned around and followed the group descending the mountain.

Wen Zhen also glanced back when he went down the mountain, the place where the dry fish burned was a relatively independent mountain, erected there like a small mushroom, there were no trees and no stones, there was no obstruction, there was only one way up the mountain, and now, everyone was on this road, with their backs to the mountain and left.

What she didn't know was.

When the person left behind by Yan Jue turned his back and followed the tail of the large army, the little spark that had been extinguished suddenly flashed slowly, and the red light flashed slowly, and slowly burned again on the already scorched and silent fire.

……

The atmosphere of going down the mountain was a bit dull, and the procedures that should have been done had been completed, but the sky was clear and there was no rain, and the old farmers who were good at watching the clouds could see that at least there was no rain for the past two days.

This made everyone depressed, and they couldn't help but whisper about the upcoming grain and rent collection.

Today, His Royal Highness the King of Dingding and Lord Assassin Shi are here, and some village elders with heads and faces are tentatively mentioning the matter of tax reduction, Yan Juezheng is irritable, sneered, and said without thinking: "Thanks to the blessing of your Lord Assassin Shi, Fengbao Warehouse has gone to water, and the grain storage has been consumed clean, this is military grain, and it is not allowed to be filled slowly, and the people of Huzhou must make more efforts to replenish the granary as soon as possible, not only to replenish the grain, but also to levy conscription, and build the granary as soon as possible." Since this king came to Huzhou, he found that your land is also fertile and prolific, the fish and rice are ripe, and the tax quota in the past is really too little! The imperial court originally wanted to set four times the tax amount last year, but this king is kind-hearted and sympathetic to you, so he has already written a letter to ask for a halving of the tax, and the approval is about to come down. ”

He said it proudly, and everyone listened to it like a bolt from the blue.

------Off topic------

Most of the prayers for rain come from the prayers of various dynasties and generations, which are hereby explained.

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