Three Kingdoms

There are many people in Chang'an.

The more people we eat, the more we use. The consumption every day is staggering.

After winter comes, one item of material becomes more consumed.

That is coal. Coal is mostly used by the poor, and charcoal is mostly used by the rich.

Wang Sanlang is still very satisfied with his current life, although it seems that he has never gotten anything good since the day he was born. Anything he wants can only be obtained after a painful temper. Of course, sometimes even after hard work, you still can't get anything.

Then Wang Sanlang understood one thing very early on. People are different. For himself, he cannot have too high expectations for life...

If poor people have too high expectations for their lives, it may not be a good thing.

Now Wang Sanlang just hopes to be able to carry coal two more times, so that he can pay for his baby.

By the way, Wang Sanlang is only sixteen years old this year.

Sixteen-year-old fathers are not a rare thing in the Han Dynasty. It is not an empty saying that the children of the poor will be the head of the family early. If the poor do not get married and have children at this age, then his children may lose their father before they grow up. .

The average age of a big man is about forty.

This was raised by some nobles, just like the average social income in later generations. If you are holding back the average social income, please go aside and play in the mud...

If only the 80% were calculated, I believe it would be an even more terrifying number.

In the early morning, the sky was overcast. Although the snow had stopped, the weather was still not very good. Wang Sanlang was very worried about whether his children could survive such weather smoothly.

The mortality rate of older babies is about 30% to 40%.

Many young children die before they can even open their eyes seriously, take a look, or touch the world.

Wang Sanlang hopes that his child can survive and not be like his brother...

Carrying coal is not an easy task.

Most of the time, physical labor is not an easy and happy thing.

Coal was very heavy, and because he couldn't bear to use linen straps, hemp rope was used. At the beginning, there will be blood blisters on both shoulders, and then they will burst and then develop another layer. It will not get better until thick calluses have grown and deep grooves have formed. Two hemp ropes are tied around the shoulders, and a wider strap is placed on the forehead. One advantage of this is that when the waist is hunched forward, the whole body's strength can be used more effectively.

There is also a T-shaped wooden stick under the coal basket, which is used not to allow these coal-carrying people to completely relax and rest, but because these coal-carrying people are afraid that when they are exhausted and weak, they will accidentally remain unstable. The balance caused the coal basket to tilt, and the coal fell out, making today's work in vain...

Experienced coal carriers walk a fixed distance and route every day. Because every stone and every pothole on that road is familiar, there will be no chance of tripping, and then like a worker ant, silently carrying the coal basket, going back and forth on the fixed route, even if it is When meeting familiar coal-carrying companions, they seldom spoke, let alone spent time chatting. At most, they only made eye contact, as if to encourage each other.

Ever since General Hussar replaced charcoal with coal, Chang'an has changed from a large user of charcoal to a large user of coal. Of course, 20% of the people still use charcoal, and even use silver charcoal. They don't bother to use ordinary charcoal. However, most of the people in Chang'an like coal. Coal is more beautiful and beautiful. , can burn longer than charcoal, more practical...

Well, actually none of the above may be correct. The fundamental reason why coal is more popular than charcoal is that coal is cheaper.

To make charcoal, you need to cut down trees, dry them in the shade, and then burn them into charcoal. It is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the output is small. You can't burn much in one kiln. Coal is relatively better. In addition, it can be mixed with loess and made into honeycomb briquettes. Much cheaper than ordinary charcoal.

The Hussar had an order that charcoal and coal markets were not allowed to be established in Chang'an City. Therefore, if the people in Chang'an City and surrounding Lingyi wanted to use charcoal and coal, they could only use vehicles or carry them on people's backs.

The vehicle capacity is large, but the cost is also high.

In winter, animals are afraid of the cold, and they need to eat more, which consumes money for fodder. People are much cheaper, and they don’t need special care. In the surrounding villages, there are many people who take advantage of the winter leisure to find some work, so give some Scattered money and items are also thrown away, saving worry, effort and money.

What's more, this kind of work is seasonal. Three melons and two dates cannot support people. It is only suitable for farmers like Wang Sanlang who work hard to subsidize the family...

You carry a basket of coal and receive a piece of wood. Then when you carry it to the field, you will put a stamp on the wood. At the end of the day, a few pieces of wood are just a few rewards. It is simple and easy to recognize.

There are two types of coal cake makers in Chang'an: government-run ones and private ones.

The official camps are naturally opened by the Huang's workshop under the Hussar, and the reward will be more. And because the general's wife of the Hussar is kind-hearted, if the weather is bad, such as snow and wind, she will be there at the end of the day. At that time, in addition to the original reward, everyone might also get a small piece of multigrain pancake...

It happens in normal weather, occasionally.

Today, it should be gone...

It was just cloudy, neither raining nor snowing, and the wind was not strong.

Wang Sanlang sighed. Although it is said that bad weather such as rain and snow will make carrying coal more difficult, the two-finger and three-finger long multi-grain pancakes are soaked in some water and boiled, and then added with some wheat bran. It’s another meal...

In the private sector, the remuneration is average. In the beginning, due to the lack of coal in the basket, the remuneration was deducted for various reasons, so later most people would choose to carry it for the government. Later, the private sector The local coal shop couldn't bear it, so they raised the wages, but still very few people would go.

Because the benchmark for the hussar officer camp is set over there...

In the coal shop of the Hussar Workshop, the steward responsible for exchanging wood chips was a lame man who was missing half of his leg. His left calf was missing and was replaced with a piece of wood. It is said that this steward used to be a soldier under the Hussars. He lost his legs on the battlefield and survived. Because half of his legs were missing, it was inconvenient to ride a horse and he could not be used as a patrol officer, so he became something like this. A little steward who needs some running around.

"Hey, that's okay. Did you carry it six times today?" ” The manager of the coal shop took the wood chip from Wang Sanlang and praised, “Young man has some strength! What to change? Money or things? 』

"Change the beam!" Replace them all with sorghum! "Wang Sanlang said loudly, this is also the choice of most coal-carrying people. You need to prepare enough food for the winter at home before you can think about other things.

The reason for replacing sorghum instead of other grains is that sorghum is the cheapest and can be replaced in the largest amount.

In ancient times when there were no high-quality chemical fertilizers, the yield of sorghum could be twice that of wheat. Moreover, sorghum did not have to be chosen very much. It could be grown in any good or bad condition. It could be grown on the eaves, walls, corners, or in off-site areas, and the harvest would be more or less. But the problem is Sorghum contains tannins, which are the kind contained in many fruits before they are ripe, such as green persimmons.

So the taste is naturally imaginable.

In addition, sweet sorghum was introduced before, and the price of sorghum, which originally had a bad taste, dropped even more.

But people like Wang Sanlang are not afraid that sorghum will be unpalatable. What they are afraid of is that they will not be able to eat it.

Carrying a small half bag of sorghum, Wang Sanlang felt that his body seemed to be less tired. With this small half bag, the family will have at least three more chewing heads for three days, and then carry it for ten or twenty days. If necessary, you can change it to some cloth or something...

Carefully protecting half the bag of sorghum with his arms, Wang Sanlang and several people from the same village prepared to go back.

Although Chang'an Lingyi has been generally peaceful these days, some bad rumors are still spreading. It is said that there are even riots in some places of Zuo Fengyi, people are robbing people, killing people, and burning shops. It's very scary. Then I heard that some people in Chang'an Mausoleum also died...

But Wang Sanlang felt far away from these rumors. Where was Zuo Fengyi? He didn't know that he rarely even entered the rice shop because he couldn't afford the high-priced grains in the rice shop. Everything in the rumors seemed to be at a certain distance from Wang Sanlang, and the happiness closest to him , which is the small half bag of sorghum in his arms.

After turning the corner, I saw a group of people standing on the cross street from a distance, almost blocking the intersection. They were talking about something, gesticulating and spitting...

Wang Sanlang and others were immediately in a daze, and then subconsciously prepared to take a detour to avoid it, but saw a team of patrolmen coming, dispersed some of the crowd blocking the intersection, and made way for the road.

Only then did Wang Sanlang find out that it was just a new notice that was posted, which caused a discussion, and it was not a gathering of people to cause trouble...

When the inspection officer saw Wang Sanlang and others, he waved his hand to signal them to pass and not to stand in the way.

With the inspection present, Wang Sanlang and others naturally became more courageous, and crossing the cross street was the most direct shortcut. If they had to take a detour out of the city, they would have to walk a long way, so they lowered their heads and hurried past...

A group of gentry disciples who were discussing the announcement on the cross street did not pay attention to Wang Sanlang and others at all. It was like that although they were at the same time and the same place at this moment, there were those who were wearing brocade robes and those who were wearing linen, those who were clean and those who were covered with clothes. The marl is like the distant cape and the end of the world, two different worlds.

Just like water and oil, even if they are mixed together temporarily, they will gradually separate.

……(··;)(··;)……

In Chang'an, the waves on the cross streets gradually spread.

Those who are still in the officialdom or the nobles near Chang'an can feel it more or less quickly, but some "hermits" cannot be said to have such convenient information and notice it quickly.

In the Han Dynasty, there has always been a habit of admiring hermits.

Retreating to seclusion and becoming a hermit was originally a personal behavior that pursued freedom, and it was also a special social phenomenon in Chinese history.

In the Han Dynasty, the phenomenon of retreating into seclusion at every turn was very serious.

There were many in the Tang Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty was much better because there was Zhu Yuanzhang...

Classmate Lao Zhu loves to fall out, so being a hermit in the Ming Dynasty is also a high risk...

Among the Twenty-Four Histories, in the Han Dynasty, there was the "Book of the Later Han: Biography of Yimin" written specifically for those who had retired to hermitage. This was a biography. The so-called biographies meant "the deeds of people and ministers were recorded so that they could be passed down to future generations." , is enough to illustrate the attitude of the entire society towards hermits at this point in time.

Perhaps because of the official recognition of hermits, or the social atmosphere at that time, there are a large number of biographies about hermits not only in the "Book of the Later Han", but also in the "Book of Han".

The theoretical basis of the hermit is probably because someone said something like this, "A gentleman, Zang Boyu, if the country has the way, he can be an official. If the country has no way, he can take care of it." 』

But this person has said too many things. He has been talking basically all his life, so sometimes each word has its own meaning, and even he himself may not remember them all...

Therefore, in the Han Dynasty, especially in the period of Wang Mang, "...the righteous indignation of the scholars was so great that at this time, the crowns were broken and the crowns were broken, and there were countless people who carried them away..."

Most of these hermits are scholars. It can be said that they basically have certain cultural qualities. In some cases, they are even Confucian leaders. Because the most classic saying in Confucianism is that "excellence in learning leads to official service". Then when it is difficult to "contribute to the world", you can roll your sleeves honorably, and then say "take care of yourself" and hide in the mountains and forests. "Don't stand under a dangerous wall."

Especially among the officials, when they pick up the bowl and eat, they say it's okay, but then if something seems a bit bad, they immediately throw the bowl away and "retreat" to the countryside...

Of course, there are also some people who are born with a dilute temperament, just like many people in later generations who have social phobia and feel uncomfortable when there are many people, so they naturally choose to live in seclusion. These people had the ability to become officials but did not become officials at the time. They were even quite resistant to becoming officials. They can be regarded as the purer type among the ranks of hermits. No matter how the external situation changes, they are unwilling to become officials throughout their lives and always remain in a state of poverty. The state of retreat.

There are actually not many such true hermits in number, and they are relatively rare in the entire history of China. The vast majority of "hermits" are just "in the world, aiming for high places". After seeing some benefits, they immediately become It smells amazing.

Yin Mo is the one waiting for the arrival of "True Fragrance".

"In the past, I wielded my sword in the pass. Today, I wield my sword in the bamboo forest." Cooking wine, accompanied by poetry and painting, retreating to seclusion, to support the remaining years..."

Yin Mo held up the wine cup with a smile, and his words were bold and heroic, a bit like seeing through the world. Of course, if Yin Mo didn't have a beautiful girl in his arms, he would look more like a hermit.

Great Yin, just like what Dongfang Shuo said, "Lu Shen sinks into the world and hides from the world at the Golden Horse Gate." Why stay deep in the mountains and under the wormwood when you can hide yourself from the world in the palace? 』

So Yin Mo didn't run towards Zhong Nanshan because he was afraid of running into Fei Qian. Zhong Nanshan was near Lantian. So in the courtyard beside the bamboo forest outside Changling, I drank and sang...

No matter which dynasty it is, the price of raising a beautiful woman is not low.

But Yin Mo didn't care much about this expense. Isn’t making money just for spending? Instead of enjoying it now while people are still young and Microsoft is not Panasonic yet, why don't we wait until we are old before weeping over the empty pockets of our descendants?

In addition, this is his own courtyard, and there is no need to taboo anything, so Yin Mo is more relaxed. In the hall, he can't wait to bury his big and small head into the beautiful concubine.

Mei Ji is also divided into three, six or nine grades. The more in line with most people's aesthetics, the higher the price will naturally be. Of course, there are also some people with special hobbies who will choose some special people...

In Chang'an, the cheapest ones are naturally some barbarian women. These Hu girls have rough hands and feet, are not literate, don't care much about cleanliness, and don't even like to take a bath. Most of these Hu women were treated as slaves or commodities, and were even sent to Chang'an by their tribal leaders to be exchanged for some Han goods.

Most people have some spare money in their pockets and can't help it, so most of them will choose such a Hu girl.

Cheap and affordable.

And Yin Mo naturally disdained to do such a thing, he chose to raise his family.

The cost of raising a beautiful girl at home is high. Whether it is food, clothing, rouge, gouache, spices and satin, the money just flows out like water. In particular, the type of beauty that Yin Mo is holding is the most expensive. She can talk poetry, play ditties, and enchant people. Her face is always as timid as a deer, and her eyes are wet. Being willing to refuse but still welcoming, being shy and blushing is a common skill.

Therefore, some people even specialize in this kind of business and raise...

Mei Ji held Yin Mo's head and didn't know whether she was pushing it out or pressing it into her arms, "Is the master really resigning?" 』

"Is this still false? Yin Mo's voice came out vaguely, and he didn't know if he had something in his mouth, "I've eaten... I'm calm now..."

Mei Ji Xuexue let out a cry of pain, and then frowned slightly. Some different emotions seemed to be revealed in her expression, and the strength in her hands was naturally weaker.

Yin Mo noticed it keenly, rolled his eyelids, sat up, slapped Mei Ji to the ground, "Xiao Lang Hoozi, what are you thinking about?" Master, even if I resign, I can still afford to support you! 』

Yin Mo was a little annoyed.

His resignation was certainly not his intention.

Just like a gecko doesn't want to cut off its tail casually.

Well, who would want to resign? Are you willing to give up the power in your hands and go from being the superior to the one being suppressed?

But I can’t do it without resigning.

When he thought of this, Yin Mo became very angry. Although on the surface he pretends to be indifferent and regards authority as dirt, in reality his heart is as sharp as a knife...

Mei Ji quickly kowtowed and begged for mercy.

Yin Mo looked at Meiji's tender neck and the beautiful curves of her high pout, and suddenly an idea came out of his heart. He had thought about it before, but he had always been reluctant to let it go, but now...

It's better to have fun in time.

Yin Mo laughed and then grabbed Mei Ji's hair. Hearing Mei Ji cry out in pain, the sadistic pleasure in his body gradually increased, and he pushed up his robe...

Just as this was happening, a servant's voice suddenly sounded outside the courtyard door, "Master..."

"roll! Yin Mo roared outside.

Yin Mo didn't intend to stop, he kept twisting, pinching, beating, and biting, and then he became more and more excited when he listened to Mei Ji's painful cries...

"Master... someone from Si Zhi... wants me to go there..."

The slave outside the courtyard gate was obviously hesitant, but still insisted on reporting.

Mei Ji suddenly discovered that Yin Mo, who seemed to be fierce and menacing a second ago, was not only stunned at this moment, but also withered like a fallen leaf in winter...