Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 44 Songzhi He Chunfeng Jizo sacrifices to the dead

Zhao Xin and the others left early the next morning.

Liu Sheng, who was seeing him off, stood at the gate of the camp and watched the six of them go away. He laughed three times in his heart, saying that it was finally Lao Tzu's turn to call the shots.

So Liu Sheng issued the first order to Sheng Haizhou.

He wrote in pencil on the pamphlet that Katsu Kaishu accompanied him: Eat stewed beef at noon.

Sheng Haizhou looked at Liu Sheng in embarrassment, thinking that he hadn't finished what he cooked last night.But these words can't be used as a reason, and it swept the interest of Master Liu for no reason.But he immediately thought of another reason, and he was very righteous.

So Sheng Haizhou wrote on the booklet: "Sir, today's New Year's Day, every house is dusted as usual."

When Liu Sheng saw it, yes, what they said was reasonable.Who doesn't clean up for the New Year?I'd better go to the beach and shoot.

So this guy carried a target and went to the beach to practice pistol shooting.

It is said that when the women in the camp started cooking in the morning, they steamed a pot of glutinous rice.It's New Year's, and it's time to make rice cakes.

The glutinous rice that Zhao Xin brought was actually a gift from the merchant when he bought the rice.And the sticky rice has been soaked overnight.

Islanders usually eat rice cakes directly, dipped in sugar or soy sauce; they also often cook a pot of "mixed boiled cakes" with radishes and wild vegetables.

The other refugees, after having breakfast, started the New Year's cleaning and dusted off the old dust.

It is said that the New Year's cleaning in the island country is usually completed before Zhengdan.But if it wasn't for Zhao Xin's reminder this year, many people would have almost forgotten about it.

Even some old people have been counting the days and knew that Zhengdan was coming, but they didn't dare to say anything when they saw that Zhao Xin didn't speak.

Sheng Haizhou asked Zhao Xin about this matter last night, and Zhao Xin nodded indifferently and agreed, so that the refugees started to get busy the next day.

A Miao and Zhi Nai were in charge of cleaning the RV, and the Xu brothers also came to help.Xu Shounan, this little follower, followed closely behind his elder brother, and from time to time he would play Dofu for a while to pass the time.

Today's weather is very good, the wind is not strong in the morning, and the thermometer in the RV shows that the outdoor temperature is only minus five degrees.

The refugees took the quilts, mattresses, and cushions out of the tents, and beat and dusted off the dust with sticks.Others carefully wiped the stove in the tent clean.

After all, we are still living a collective life, so everyone started working together, and the tents were cleaned up very quickly.

Some people took shovels and were responsible for transporting the swept garbage outside the camp; while the elderly took a group of children and went to the bushes on the edge of the camp to pick pine branches from the low pine trees.These pine branches are to be hung outside the tent door as "door pine", representing the meaning of welcoming the new year.

(As an aside, in the modern island country, before the Chinese New Year, the sales of Kadomatsu by various merchants in the city were monopolized by the underworld. There was once a street association president who planned to promote environmental protection and save resources. In the street under the jurisdiction, Kadomatsu was replaced by an advertisement painting painted with pine and bamboo. As a result, the triad came to his door to negotiate with him the next day. They were also very polite, saying that we have to follow your example, and our group will eat it. What? The president of the street association immediately realized that his actions were destroying the other party's job, so he immediately apologized and corrected it quickly.)
Today, the logging team led by Heita and Kuzang didn't go to work either, and the few who used to be carpenters had nothing to do after cleaning the tents.

At this time, a few old people found them, and after some conversation, the carpenters went to Liji.After explaining the purpose of the visit, I took the tools and went to the place where the wood was stacked.

A few carpenters first cut a piece of wood into [-] pieces with a hand saw, and the average length of each piece was [-] to [-] centimeters.Next, they removed the outer bark and short branches with an axe, and sanded it a little with a plane.

Next, a guy who was already very skilled in the craft chopped the short wood with a hand axe.After a while, the general appearance of a person idol came out.Several other people followed each other's demonstration and began to get busy.

Two other guys, one of them made a pit with axes and chisels in the top of a chunky piece of timber half a man's height.When he felt that the depth was about the same, he began to smooth out the pit the size of a sea bowl little by little.This is the mortar used to beat the rice cakes.

The other person quickly made a pestle.

The two were busy working together, and after finishing the tools for making rice cakes, they happily took them to the kitchen; while the other people continued to carve those dolls of similar size.

Some women and old people found Sheng Haizhou, hoping that the other party could help them draw an eggplant, an eagle, or a small picture of Mount Fuji.

This request is also for auspiciousness in the New Year.

The people of the island country attach great importance to the dream in the first month, because a good dream means that everything goes well in that year.Mount Fuji, eagle and eggplant are said to be the three favorite things of Tokugawa Ieyasu.So before going to sleep tonight, put the picture under the pillow, as long as you can dream of one of them, it represents the good luck of the year.It's also a little bit of life.

Sheng Haizhou is open to all who come. He has been painting since the morning, and his hands cramp when he is so tired.At the beginning, I could describe it carefully. Later, I made a few scribbles. Anyway, it was enough to get the meaning.

Lu Shoushan, who had nothing to do, was approached by the women in the kitchen.Monk Zhang Er was at a loss, but he was pushed and shoved by several women and brought to the kitchen.

Lu Shoushan is so uncomfortable, he can't understand what people say.With a blushing face, he wanted to push people away, but seeing that everyone was smiling and polite, he didn't want to get angry.

As soon as he got to the kitchen, a woman handed over a wooden pestle and pointed to the wooden mortar.

Hey, Lu Shoushan's heart fell into his stomach and asked me to work.

The women put the steamed glutinous rice into the wooden mortar and signaled Lu Shoushan to beat it.So, in the exclamations of several women, the glutinous rice in the wooden mortar was beaten by Lu Shoushan and flew around.

Wan Zao's wife couldn't straighten her back with laughter. She stepped forward and grabbed the wooden pestle, demonstrating her strength and technique to Lu Shoushan.

At the beginning, you can't beat hard, you can only slowly crush the cooked glutinous rice in the wooden mortar, and then you can beat the center part with the cooperation of another person, while the other person dips his hands in water to beat the surrounding area without being beaten. The rice cakes are gathered in the center, and the operation is repeated.

Lu Shoushan blushed, looked at it very embarrassedly, and nodded to show that he understood.Wan Zao's wife then handed him the wooden pestle.

On the beach, Liu Sheng was standing 50 meters away, shooting a target with a pistol.

The SIGP226 in his hand is very different from the 92 he used in the army before, and the recoil is much larger.However, Liu Sheng felt that this gun was suitable for his hand, and the 92 was a little too slender.

At some point, Jiuzang slipped over and stood ten meters behind Liu Sheng.Like a fool, he watched Liu Sheng shoot one by one.

Liu Sheng inadvertently turned around, just in time to see Jiuzang.The startled Liu Sheng opened his mouth and scolded: "You don't say a word, I shot you and killed you!"

Although he didn't know what the other party was talking about, Jiuzang knew from his tone that Mr. Liu was angry.So he was so frightened that he hurriedly fell to his knees on the sand.

Liu Sheng moved the hammer release button on the pistol to reset the hammer, but did not eject the magazine.

The biggest difference between P226 and 92 is that there is no special insurance, but the force of the trigger is changed by releasing the hammer.After the hammer is reset, even if the trigger is accidentally touched, it will not cause a misfire unless it is pulled very hard.

Liu Sheng looked at it and saw that Jiuzang was not carrying a knife.So he walked to Jiu Zang, lifted him up with one hand and asked, "Curious? Want to learn?"

Jiuzang stood up tremblingly, but did not dare to look up.However, when he heard Master Liu talking, he raised his head to look at the other party.

I saw Liu Sheng dangling twice with the strange bursting iron gun, and said another sentence.

Seeing the look of longing in the other's eyes, Liu Sheng knew that he had guessed correctly.So he beckoned Jiuzang to follow him, and the two stood ten meters away from the target.

Liu Sheng removed the magazine and left only one bullet in the magazine.He motioned for Jiuzang to stand in front of him, and when the other party stood up, Liu Sheng put the pistol into Jiuzang's right hand, while his own big hand held Jiuzang's right hand tightly.

As the hammer was pulled down by Liu Sheng, Jiuzang was very excited to follow Liu Sheng's strength and raised his right arm, and the iron gun in his hand was pointed at the target by Liu Sheng.

"Bang!" With a loud bang, Jiuzang leaned back with the powerful recoil, but Liu Sheng held down his arm tightly and did not raise it.

"Your arm strength is not good, you have to practice the gun." Liu Sheng shook his head, took the gun from Jiuzang's hand, and withdrew from the magazine.After thinking for a while, he motioned for the other party to follow him and came to the log accumulation point.

Several carpenters were still decorating the puppets, and when they saw Liu Sheng approaching, they quickly put down their tools and stood up to salute.

Liu Sheng found a piece of wood, took a chisel from the hand of a carpenter, and motioned for him to carve something on the piece of wood.The carpenter hurriedly bowed in agreement.

Liu Sheng took out the P226 with the magazine retracted again, held the empty gun in front of the carpenter, and let the other party look at it for a while.Then he pointed to the wood, and then to the gun in his hand.

The carpenter suddenly realized that the master wanted him to use wood to carve something similar to the iron tool in the master's hand.

He immediately held up the wooden board and motioned Liu Sheng to put the pistol on the wooden board. After that, he used the short edge of the chisel to carefully trace the edge of the pistol.

Jiuzang looked at Liu Sheng busy there with a demented face. He didn't know what Mr. Liu was doing.After thinking about it, he decided to find Sheng Haizhou.

Over there, Sheng Haizhou is painting Mount Fuji, eagle and eggplant one after another, but the eagle is more and more like a pigeon, and the long eggplant is more and more like a sausage...

Jiuzang listened to someone's instructions, and hurriedly found the "great painter" Sheng Haizhou who was waving.

"Ah, you must be in a hurry to find me, right?" When Sheng Haizhou saw Jiuzang, he felt like someone who was about to drown and handed a bamboo pole.

"Master Sheng, that Master Liu... Forget it, please come with me quickly."

"Oh, oh~~~" Sheng Haizhou suddenly got up and said to the refugees waiting beside him, "Lord, look for me. I'll paint later, I'll paint later."

As he walked, he rubbed his wrists and asked Jiuzang, "What's the matter?"

"I don't understand what Mr. Liu meant. Please go over and help explain it."

Not long after, the two came to the wood pile.

Sheng Haizhou stepped forward and bowed to Liu Sheng, then took out the booklet in his arms, and wrote with his trembling right hand: "What is the offense of Jiu Zang?"

When Liu Sheng saw it, he had misunderstood.He took the booklet and wrote, "He needs to practice wrist strength." After he finished writing, he looked at the carpenter, and when he saw that he was almost done, the general shape and the shape of the trigger guard were there.

Liu Sheng directly signaled the carpenter to come down, and he picked it up and weighed it in his hand, the weight was almost too much.So I found another rope, and hung a wooden block on one end and the trigger guard on the other.

"Well, this amount is enough. Let's do this for now." Liu Sheng did not have the same problem, the communication was not smooth, and the steps of aiming and reloading could only be done slowly in the future.

He handed the wooden gun to Jiuzang, took Sheng Kaizhou's notebook and wrote: "Practice with guns for 5 minutes each time." Liu Sheng realized that the other party didn't have a watch as soon as he finished writing, so he thought about it again. Marked and re-written: "One stick of incense at a time. Three times a day."

If Wang Yuanfang sees this, he will be ridiculed. Are you planning to do physiotherapy?Also three times a day.

After writing, Liu Sheng also showed Jiuzang a demonstration with a wooden gun.

Sheng Haizhou took a look, this is to teach the continuous firing of iron guns!Quickly explained to Kuzang.Then he instructed the carpenter to make an identical one for himself.

There are only more than 300 people in the camp, and there are only a few dozen men.The news spread quickly, and not long after, Rikichi, Heita, Manzo, Toroyoshi, and Mosuke all came and told the carpenter to make one each.

The carpenter is about to cry, it's hard to take a day off today!

Because I don't have to go out to work today, my lunch is "zaozhubing" cooked with rice cakes and radish greens.A group of island refugees eat very sweet.Lu Shoushan, Zeng Xiucheng and the two children were used to suffering, and they didn't find it unpalatable, they just thought the food was novel.

And Liu Sheng frowned as he looked at the bowl of "stewed radish" in front of him.

"By the way, I haven't practiced survival in the wild for a long time, right? What's the matter, are you going to let me revisit it today?"

Liu Sheng murmured in his heart for a long time, but finally hunger overcame his hesitation, regardless of 21 [-], he stuffed it into his stomach with a sigh.

After eating this bowl, Liu Sheng decided to kill him at night and not eat this stuff.If they still bring another bowl like this in the evening, he'll have to roast some beef himself.

In the afternoon, the women began to boil water in the large iron pots in the kitchen again, preparing for everyone to have a New Year's bath.

According to the customs of the island country, the elderly are the first to bathe, followed by the men, and finally the women and children.

At dusk, all the people had washed up.Someone walked out of the tent, lit a few torches, and walked towards the north wall of the camp.The refugees came out of the tent one after another, followed the direction of the torches, and came to the camp wall on the north side of the camp together.

Twenty Ksitigarbha Bodhisattvas, carved out of wood and about [-] to [-] centimeters in height, lined up neatly in a row, facing the crowd.On the rough carved face, the eyebrows are vaguely visible.

People kept coming forward and sticking branches with white cloth strips in their hands behind the statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.On the white cloth strip, it was written by Sheng Haizhou in the afternoon, and it was the name of the family members of the refugees who died in the famine last year.

This is the spirit flag.

Heitai wrote about his sister and father.

The cloth strips that have been hidden for a long time are full of names, all of them are his family members.

There is only one person above Hu Ji, his mother.

Shigeru is a family of four.

Wan Zao, with tears in his eyes, inserted the prayer flag with his parents written on it behind the Ksitigarbha statue.

As an old man in the crowd chanted a Buddha's name, everyone knelt down, put their hands together, and prayed for their relatives and friends who died last year.

A Miao knelt in the crowd, thinking about her mother and brother who were buried by the flash flood, and thinking about her grandma who hanged herself so as not to drag her down. Tears rolled down and dripped onto the ground in front of her.Gradually, her cry became louder and even more heartbreaking.

And with A Miao's cry, many people were also awakened by the cry of numbness in their hearts.Thinking of my wandering far away from home, the dead relatives are already thousands of miles away from me, and it seems that endless sadness hits the hearts of the refugees one after another.

The white cloth strips fluttering in the wind made bursts of noise, as if to say that the dead cannot be saved!

In the crowd, low and suppressed sobbing came one after another.

Rikichi and Shino knelt at the back of the crowd, tears all over their faces.

Katsu Kaishu stood at the end of the crowd, bowing his head and praying.

Lu Shoushan and Pan Xiucheng, pulling the two children of the Xu family, gathered soil for incense in an open space not far from the crowd, knelt facing south, and kowtowed three times respectfully in the direction of Dongtai. .After getting up, he asked the two children to kowtow in the direction of Ninggu Tower in the west, in order to pay homage to their mother.

After Xu Shounan got up, he looked at the praying crowd with tears in his eyes.He heard A Miao cry just now, crying very sadly.

Standing not far away, Liu Sheng looked at these praying refugees with a solemn expression, with a heavy heart.He didn't understand what the ceremony was, but he understood the meaning of the ceremony.

He let out a long sigh and raised his hand in a military salute.

(End of this chapter)