The first day of the tenth lunar month is an extremely important day for the residents of northern Taizhou, the first day of October is also the first day of the winter month, since the establishment of Alan County, a large-scale sacrifice will be held on this day every year, the sacrifice is not only to worship the gods of the heavens, it is also a cultural heritage of Alan County, and the holding of sacrificial activities can also increase the centripetal force and cohesion of the northern residents

This year is the second time Alan County has held a large-scale sacrifice event, and this year's sacrifice scale is much more grand than last year, people in the north have a consensus that this year has to be sacrificed, the better it is, then the north will be smooth and everything will be healthy in the coming year, whose heart is more sincere, then whose family will be safe and secure and have a bumper harvest, and people will also mourn the deceased on this day and send them warm clothes

A circular altar was erected on a relatively wide ground in Alan County, the surface of the altar was evenly covered with a layer of yellow cloth, a rectangular square table was placed in the seat west of the altar, and a layer of yellow cloth was also laid on the square table, the cereals and seasonal fruits that were newly harvested this year were arranged in a row on the square table, the two altars of fine wine were placed on the left and right sides of the square table, and six wine bowls were lined up in front of the cereals

In the middle of the square table there is also a gong the size of a bowl, on the round chairs on the left and right sides of the square table are placed a drawer of steamed buns - a drawer of bean buns, in front of the square table there are three square tables placed vertically, on the left square table is a slaughtered goat, in the middle table is a pig, and on the right table is a slaughtered deer

Three four-legged square tripods are placed side by side in the middle of the altar, these three tripods are said, let's first say that the middle of the heavenly tripod it represents, the four heavenly courts and the gods of all walks of life and the thirty-six road immortals, the left of the earth tripod represents the cow ghosts, snake gods and all kinds of demons, demons and ghosts and lonely souls and wild ghosts, and the one on the right is the human tripod represents the ancestors of humanity and the ancestors of the north

In this era, people believe that wind, rain, thunder, lightning and disasters in the world are controlled by all kinds of gods, and the sacrifice is also human feelings, and you have to take care of all aspects of the world, all of them say that people fight for a breath of Buddha, and the Buddha fights for a stick of incense, and the same is true for the cows, ghosts, snakes, and gods, and all kinds of demons and evils, and the north can't let all the gods and demons find fault

The time when the festival began was 8 o'clock in the morning, nearly 200 people of the gong and drum band, lion dance, and Yangge formed a slip along the street, and at about 7 o'clock, the village chiefs and clan chiefs of each village were already waiting in the county office, and Lord Sun and General Yuan came relatively early, and the village chiefs were almost front and back

When Han Juzheng learned about it, he hurriedly took the village chiefs and clan chiefs to the door to pick up the car, and when they arrived at the door, everyone bowed to Lord Sun and General Yuan: Xia Guan has seen Han Juzheng to meet the two adults

"Grass People-Meet the Two Adults"

General Sun Yuanwu waved his hand: Today, the mansion is here to participate in the sacrifice, and everyone doesn't have to be polite

When everyone heard this, they responded with a "Thank you"

Han Juzheng respectfully invited Lord Sun and General Yuan to the inner hall to rest for a while, and the village leaders and clan chiefs of each village followed closely behind, and after Sun Yuanwu sat down in the inner hall, they chatted with the village chiefs: How is the harvest in the village this year, brother

Niu Peng, head of Mantu Village: Master Hui, this year's harvest in Mantu Village is good, with a maximum of 430 catties of grain per mu of land, and a minimum of 390 catties of grain, which is a bumper harvest year

Cao Yong of Gray Village: The village of Gray is also a good year

"My lord's harvest in each village this year is good"

When Sun Yuanwu heard this, a relieved smile appeared on his face: Then the grain you collected is not enough for living needs

Han San, head of Dahan Village: My lord, the villagers now collect five or six taels of silver after digging up the grain they collect for a year

Sun Yuanwu: What about the other villages?

Han Er, head of Xiaohan Village: My lord, every household in each village now has 6 acres of land, and after a year's worth of food and clothing, the remaining silver is about the same

Sun Yuanwu: Then I can't have much money left over for a busy year

Zhang Nan, head of Dianke Village: Compared with the first few years, everyone who can pay a few taels of silver in the past two years is already very content

Chang Mu, the head of Xilan Village: My lord, we have few fields that can be cultivated near the sea in Xilan Village and Lanxi Village, and our main source of livelihood is to go out to sea to fish and work in the salt pans

Bai Zhuan, the head of Lanxi Village: Yes, in the past two years, there have been fewer and fewer fish in the offshore waters, and if you want to fish in the farther seas, you have to have a big boat, but we don't have a dock in Taizhou that can build big boats

Sun Yuanwu: Didn't Ju Zheng Hongting say that he wanted to build a dock and a port, and did he build it now?

Han Juzheng: Your Excellency is preparing to start construction this year as planned, but the construction of the dock and port in the Chang Weiguo rebellion was delayed a while ago, and the construction will have to wait for the spring of next year

Sun Yuanwu: Oh, that's the case, then you find time to urge him to hurry up

"It's an adult"

Sun Yuanwu looked at the white pile: How much money can the villagers pay for working in the salt fields for a month

White pile: one tael of silver per month

Sun Yuanwu: Oh, that's not much

White pile: My lord's monthly money in Zhejiang is one or two silver

Sun Yuanwu: Does the Alan County Chamber of Commerce owe the villagers monthly money, if you tell the government that the government is in charge of you

Chang Mu: The head of the Li family never owes the villagers their wages, and on the 10th of every month, the villagers can receive their due wages on this day

Sun Yuanwu: Let the villagers persist for a year, and wait for the dock and port to be built next year

After hearing this, Bai Zhu and Chang Mu bowed to Sun Yuanwu: The two of us have thanked the prefect here for the 2,000 people of Xilan Village and Lanxi Village

Sun Yuanwu: The two village chiefs don't have to be polite

Yuan An, the head of Keer Village: It is a blessing for the people of Taizhou to love the people like children

Several other village chiefs echoed the voice, "yes-yes"

Sun Yuanwu glanced at the inner hall: Why didn't Juzheng Mansion see Hongting this time

Han Juzheng: My lord, Brother Li, he was sacrificing in Zhang Le

"Oh"

Han Juzheng then sent someone to inform Li Yang that the prefect had arrived at the county ya, at this time Li Yangzheng and Gao Yuankui and a few of them were discussing the sacrifice on the street, when he learned that Lord Sun and General Yuan were already waiting in the county ya, he and Gao Yuankui and others immediately rushed to the county government to meet the two adults

When they arrived at the county office, as soon as everyone saw the two adults, they knelt down on one knee and clasped their fists with their hands to salute: the students - the last will participate in the two adults

Sun Yuanwu waved his hand: Okay-okay, let's get up

"Master Xie"

Sun Yuanwu: How are the preparations for the northern festival this year?

Li Yang: Adults are ready, now wait for the good time to come

Sun Yuanwu: At that moment, I need to do something from this government and General Yuan

Li Yang: Your Excellency, you and General Yuan will pray for the blessings of the people in the north with a stick of incense, and after the incense, there will be a lion dance and Yangge performance on the street, and then you will ask your Excellency and General Yuan to cut the ribbon for the lion dance

Sun Yuanwu: Xingbenfu knows

Yuan Bin: My lord, our Taizhou Mansion really has to change the whole trick of the law every year, Alan County has done a good job in this point, and I can do some tricks every year, and I have already felt the joyful atmosphere when I arrived in Alan County

Sun Yuanwu "Haha" Yes, it's good, Jingyuan, how is he doing now, are you still used to staying here

Li Yang: Mr. Jingyuan and his two students have started teaching, and he and his wife are very satisfied with the housing provided by the students

Sun Yuanwu: That's good

As soon as the hour arrived on the street, there was a burst of gongs, and as soon as people heard the sound of gongs, they knew that the sacrifice was about to begin, and as soon as they came out of the county government, the streets were densely packed with people rushing to the altar, and under the guard of the officials, they barely squeezed out a path that could allow one person to pass

Yuan Bin was squeezed left and right: I have so many Cao people

Sun Yuanwu: You know, let's come out early

Our group of people finally squeezed to the altar with a lot of effort, the mountain view of the road chief saw that everyone had arrived and began to get up the altar, only to see him throw a handful of yellow paper into the sky, and then he danced a peach wood sword to the sky to draw a spell, like grains and grains grabbed a handful and threw it forward, picked up a small hammer and struck the gong on the altar "Bang-Bang"

After striking three times in a row, he shook the altar with a copper bell in his hand: The yellow sky is on the top - the thick earth is below - the disciples of the present disciple Guanshan should be requested by the people to set up this Dharma site, thank God and all the gods for blessing the north of the wind and rain and everything is good, and now the people of the north have prepared a little bow to show their awe, and also ask the heavens and the gods of all walks of life - the passing gods and immortals to bless the people of my north Ding Xingwang - family joy

As soon as the copper bell stopped, the head of the mountain road made a gesture of invitation to Lord Sun and General Yuan: Please incense

This first stick of incense is from the officials of Taizhou Prefecture, Sun Daren and General Yuan, the second stick of incense is the official of Alan County from Han Juzheng-Gaoyuan-Yuankui-Da Niu-Erniu, and the third stick of incense is Li Yang and the village chiefs of each village and the clan chief, and the residents can freely go to the altar to incense after the first three sticks of incense

After the incense, Lord Sun and General Yuan picked up the brush that had been prepared, and lit a pair of eyes for the lion dance waiting in front of the altar, accompanied by the sound of gongs and drums and suona, the two lion dancers and Yangge teams twisted happily on the street, and the procession will start from Alan County to go around the ten villages, and the Alan Chamber of Commerce will wrap one or two silver for each person who dances the lion dance-musician-twists Yangge to get a red envelope, so that everyone is happy and auspicious

Han Juzheng booked 5 tables of banquets in the Song noodle restaurant in advance, and after the sacrifice, he invited the two adults, the village chiefs and the clan chiefs to the Song noodle restaurant, like this kind of thing with the people, Lord Sun is still more willing to participate, and the village chiefs and clan chiefs of the villages are also willing to take this opportunity to have more contact with the adults, and the dishes of the banquet are very rich, and everyone is very satisfied

After the afternoon banquet, Li Yang sent Master Sun and General Yuan outside, today the two adults did not drink and walked, and he carefully helped the two adults into the carriage

Before leaving, Lord Sun poked his head out of the car window: Hongting Lanxi Village and Xilan Village, the villagers are not having a good time, their source of livelihood is mainly to work in the salt fields, and they have to buy food and clothing, if the conditions allow you to give them a long salary

It is said that whether the salary will be increased or not is a matter for the Alan Chamber of Commerce to decide, but the prefect can't refute his face when he speaks, so Li Yang didn't hesitate to answer this matter: Okay, my lord, the student has implemented this matter in the past few days

Sun Yuanwu nodded with satisfaction: Okay, you can send it here, if there is anything, you can go to the yamen of the state capital to find me

Li Yang bowed his hand: Student Xie raised his love

As soon as I got out of the house in the early morning, I saw a layer of ice ballast floating on the flowers and plants in the yard, and it was frosty - the sky was also cold, and the cold wind was like a sharp sword that pierced through the clothes without effort, and the people were really a little uncomfortable when it was cold and cold, and the people on the street were lying down with a big snot, and the pedestrians on the street became less with the weather, and the business of the shops was obviously worse than before

Just after breakfast, Ah Cha Lan and a group of more than 20 people came to Alan County, Ah Cha Lan came this time to come out and learn about things outside the Manjiang Autonomous Region, and the other is to visit Li Yang to take this opportunity to touch his bottom, the exotic dress makes this line of people walking on the street is particularly conspicuous, as long as they pass by the shop, they will go in to take a look

Every time you go to a shop, whether you buy something or not, the guys in the store will greet customers enthusiastically, introduce the goods in the store and their quality to the customers, even if you don't buy anything after looking around, the guys will be enthusiastic, and they have turned several shops in a row, and when they came to a porcelain shop, all kinds of exquisite porcelain in it dazzled Acha and his party

And what Ah Cha Lan likes the most is a colorful porcelain vase painted with a magpie play peony, and ask the guy about this exquisite porcelain vase is only sold for 200 yuan, like such a beautiful porcelain vase Ah Cha Lan originally thought that it would be at least about 500 yuan, but when I heard the guy say 200 yuan, this is too cheap, so the group selected nearly 100 pieces of porcelain in the store

After paying the money, Ah Cha Lan asked the guy to pack the porcelain, and he would send someone to pick it up in the afternoon, like this kind of big customer, the guy naturally did not dare to slack off, before leaving, Ah Cha Lan asked the guy about the Alan Chamber of Commerce-Li family, and the guy heard that Ah Cha Lan and his party were led to the outside of the store, and he pointed north along the street, "Guest officer, you go north along this road, and you will see a manor at the end, that is the Li family."

It's cold on this day, and it's cold for people to stay in the house, so Li Yang took a sip of wine and practiced his knife skills in the yard with a saber, sweeping like a wind breaking fallen leaves-cutting the soul in one go-Fighting to turn the stars and move to defend the back body-splitting like a tiger pounces on a single sheep-Skillful strength in the struggle-only one blow is needed to determine the victory

Just as he was practicing energetically, a family member hurriedly ran in: There is a person named Ah Cha Lan from outside the young master's manor, saying that your friend is here to visit today

When Li Yang heard this, he quickly put away the saber, and then trotted all the way to the outside of the manor with his family, and saw that Ah Cha Lan and his party were waiting at the door, so he quickly greeted Ah Cha and waved his hand away from the old man: Sorry - sorry for making you wait for so long, Ah Cha Lan is cold outside, quickly follow me to the house to warm up

After leading Ah Cha Lan and his party to the main room, he asked the family to move some chairs, and after everyone was seated, the two maids served a cup of fine tea for the guests, and then the four family members carried up a brazier with charcoal and put it in the middle of the room

When the guests came to the house, they naturally had good wine and good food, and this important task was handed over to Li Song and Xiaozhuang Xiaozhou sisters, and she still had a hand in cooking dishes, and Li Yang also sent someone to invite Gao Yuankui and other brothers over, and the atmosphere of this crowd can also be more lively

Li Yang picked up the teacup and whispered to Ah Cha: This day is cold when it is cold

Ah Cha Lan: Isn't it, haven't you seen that we even put on our leather jackets, Alan County is better and not too cold, our deep mountains and old forests are much colder than yours

Li Yang: When King Achalan said that it was cold, I remembered one thing, do you have any urgently needed goods in winter, if there is anything I need in the next few days, I will be nervous and happy, and the next caravan will be brought to the Manjiang Capital in four days

Ah Chalan: I am here today for this matter, Master Li

Li Yang: King Acharan, please speak

I want to prepare the food for the winter before it rains, and I am also preparing some medicines to cure wind and cold, dysentery and frostbite, as well as more tea and wine

Li Yang: Okay, no problem, I'll prepare these things in the next few days, as long as the snow doesn't close the mountain, the caravan of the Alan Chamber of Commerce will not be interrupted

Achalan: The main thing about the Li family is that you don't have enough vehicles on hand, so we can send someone to carry some back

Li Yang: No—if there aren't enough cars, I'm hiring some, don't worry, King Achalan, our Alan Chamber of Commerce will definitely not miss your ministry's business

Ah Cha Lan: I still have to ask you to help me with this, Master Li

Li Yang: Please speak

Ah Chalan: We have a lot of people in the Manjiang Autonomous Region, and our main income is wood-fur-herbs, which is not a long-term solution, and the head of the Li family, you are a businessman, help me ponder, and see if there is no other way to make money in the Manjiang Autonomous Region

Li Yang: Okay, no problem, I'll go to the Manjiang Capital in a few days, and you can take me around to see what other resources are available in the Manjiang Autonomous Region

Ah Chaan: The head of the Li family is worthy of being our best friend of the barbarian ginger people, and he is refreshing enough

Li Yang smiled slightly: It's easy to say-it's easy to say

After the rebellion of Chang Weiguo, Gao Yuankui and others and Ah Cha Lan and his party really don't know each other, this time they are naturally no strangers to each other, the enemies on the battlefield in the past have now become close friends at the wine table, and Ah Cha Mu wants Li Yang to take them to visit Alan County after they are full of wine and food

So Li Yang first took Ah Cha Lan and his party to the militia camp, and before they entered the camp, a neat shout of killing had already come out, "Drink Ha-Drink Ha-Kill-Kill" 2 Qianxiang Yong is holding a spear-steel knife for a killing drill, you can feel that Xiang Yong is full of anger and strength in every move in training, and the movements are clean and neat in one step

Not far away, 400 Xiangyong archers, facing the bullseye 70 meters away to draw the bow full, with the commander ordered to "release the arrows" 200 archers shot arrows were all shot on the bull's-eye, in a wide playground 200 cavalry are carrying out a roundabout assault drill, when Acha and his party after visiting the barracks is a long time can not come back to their senses

Then Li Yang took Ah Cha Lan and his party to the foundry workshop, and when Ah Cha Lan and his party saw that more than 20 steel-making furnaces were pouring red molten iron, and more than 400 craftsmen were casting various weapons and armor in a tight and orderly manner, the expressions on their faces were nothing but surprise or surprise

When Ah Chalan saw a pair of armor: How did you sell these weapons and armor of the Li family

Li Yang: A complete set of weapons and armor is 20 taels of silver, including spears, steel knives, shields, iron pockets, armor, combat boots, bows and arrows

Ah Cha muttered his lips and nodded, and he didn't come out to say anything, and after sending Ah Cha and his party away

Li Song came to my side: Isn't the boss just giving the third child a chance to propose marriage today

Li Yang: The second child is not in a hurry, and the matter of proposing marriage to the third child cannot be rushed, let Ah Cha Lan see the strength of our Li family, and when we come to the door to propose, he has to think about it, and let the guys prepare the things that should be prepared in the next few days

Li Song: I'll send someone to prepare early tomorrow morning

Four days later, in the early morning, the Alan Chamber of Commerce hired all the ox carts from the ten villages in the north, and this time the caravan to the Manjiang capital had more than 500 ox carts-carriages, as well as more than 300 trolleys full of goods