The sun never sets in America

Chapter 159 Journey to Han Dynasty: Life in the Countryside
ding ding ding...

A donkey carried a middle-aged man with weird hair, short in front and long in the back, with short horns and beard, wearing a Chinese cowhide coat and riding boots, walking towards this rugged country road.

On both sides of the road, there are some messy grass and cacti. Some of these cacti have red fruits with small thorns on them, and some fruits are simply half rotten, with signs of being pecked by bird beaks.

Passing under a big tree, Lin Yusheng stopped, drove the donkey aside to graze, and stood under the big tree where four or five people hugged each other, looking at the farmland and villages below the hillside...

wipe……

A ray of fire burst out from the red edge of the matchbox, igniting the Phoenix brand cigarette held in Lin Yusheng's mouth. This kind of cigarette is produced in Lingnan Province. It is very different from the Hanzhou cigarette and Jiuyuan cigarette that are currently popular in Han Dynasty. The difference is hard to tell about the taste, but people who smoke regularly know that compared to Hanzhou cigarettes, Jiuyuan cigarettes are much less powerful, making them very suitable for new smokers.

"Huh..." Lin Yusheng held the cigarette between the fingers of his right hand. A stream of white smoke came out of his mouth and quickly dissipated in front of his eyes.

Lin Yusheng was smoking while looking at the farmland at the foot of the mountain. There were several cows eating rice stalks on the farmland. These rice stalks were left over after harvesting some time ago.

Because of its mountainous location, the rain here is more abundant than in other places in Lingnan Province, so most of the locals grow rice instead of wheat, which is relatively drought-resistant.

In fact, the weather in Lingnan Province is extremely abnormal. Due to the dual influence of dry weather on the west coast and Mexico, the rainfall distribution, or the timing of rainfall, in the region is very uncoordinated.

Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. Sometimes, it's like a downpour. When it's not, it's no different from a drought.

So after the Han people came, they built a large number of reservoirs and ditches in the local area to store water during the rainy season and release it during the dry season. This was also a kind of artificial adjustment.

Next to the rice fields at the foot of the mountain, there is a river ditch hundreds of meters long, and a reservoir funded by several nearby villages to ensure the growth of crops.

In a village like this, the most common thing in every household is a well, because the local groundwater resources are abundant, and the groundwater, due to years of precipitation, is actually cleaner than the surface water.

After local people build a house, the first thing they do is dig a well. There is a folk custom in Lingnan that a house cannot be built without a well.

This shows the importance of wells to Lingnan people! !

"Huh..." Lin Yusheng took the last puff of the cigarette, looked at the butt of the cigarette in his hand, smiled hoarsely, then threw it on the ground and stepped on it again and again.

The reason for this is that there are several stone monuments prohibiting fireworks at the foot of the mountain and along the mountain road.

Because of Lingnan's special terrain and semi-dry and semi-humid geographical environment, it is easy to cause wildfires in summer, or the dry season.

The fire that broke out on June [-] last year spread for dozens of miles and burned hundreds of thousands of trees. On the day of the incident, the director of the local forestry bureau was dismissed. (The Forest Bureau, whose full name is actually the Forest Animal Management Bureau, specializes in managing forests and animals in the Han Kingdom. It sets targets for deforestation and has quotas every year. There are also hunting zones and hunting ban timetables.)

It is precisely because of that incident that such stone tablets were placed in many places in Lingnan, and there were even warning slogans on them: Do not set fire, otherwise you will be caught, and if you are caught, you will be imprisoned.

The Forestry Bureau and the Ministry of Punishment even jointly issued the so-called Forest Protection Law. Anyone who sets fire and gets the stolen goods will be judged according to the consequences of arson. Those with minor consequences will be sentenced to one year of hard labor in Mobei, and those with serious arson will be sentenced to three years and five years of hard labor. The years vary, up to ten years, and there is also one article in it, if it is found that it has been done intentionally, revenge on society will be punished by death.

(There are only two types of capital punishment in Han Dynasty, one is shooting and the other is hanging. It is up to the condemned criminal to choose which punishment method he will receive)

(Of course, some people commit suicide by taking poison. Although it is against the rules, it is still considered to have completed the death penalty.)
It is precisely because of this law that Lin Yusheng stepped on it again and again after smoking. Although he was the only one on the mountain, if something happened and he was found on his head, it would be really humiliating to his ancestors.

Gollum...

Just when Lin Yusheng was about to continue on his way, his stomach growled unsatisfactorily.

"Alas... the sage said, food is the essence of man. If you don't eat, you will die." Lin Yusheng didn't know where the so-called sage's sayings came from. Looking at the mountain village at the foot of the mountain, Lin Yusheng became interested, and then called the donkey over, and again Get on the horse and take the path from the foot of the mountain.

…………

Xiaohuang Village, a mountain village dominated by the surname Huang, mainly makes a living by growing rice and growing tea on two nearby hills. Villages like Xiaohuang Village are very common throughout Lingnan Province.

In the harvested rice fields, several buffaloes wearing bihuans were grazing. Only the yellow-orange rice stalks remained in the cows' eyes like black light bulbs.

At the head of the village, there are still a few pear trees planted. At this time of year, the pear trees have not yet produced fruit, leaving only green leaves and thick branches.

Looking down from the top of the mountain, there is also a windmill, which is used to grind flour by taking advantage of the mountain wind.

The reason for this is that there is a relatively flat hilly land in the southeast of Xiaohuang Village, which is used by local people to grow wheat. This windmill is prepared for this wheat.

The diet of the Han Dynasty is very complex. White people like to eat bread, which requires wheat. The Chinese eat everything, but the staple food is probably wheat and rice. The Indians, especially the Indians in Mexico, mainly like to eat corn.

So in those Indian villages, you will find that a piece of good wheat land is used by them to grow corn.

The local Indians also like to eat a fried corn tortilla, a small tortilla stuffed with meat and vegetables. In Spanish, this kind of food is also called taco. In Han, this kind of food is also called Mexican tortilla, which means It’s the food from Mexico.

This kind of Mexican tortilla is very popular in Han, especially among Japanese immigrants. When they ate it for the first time, they were even moved to tears...

Logically speaking, no matter how delicious this thing is, it's just a deep-fried corn pie. There's no reason to be so exaggerated, but if you understand the Japanese diet during this period, you will cry even if you eat it.

Because of the influence of the meat ban, even though the meat ban has disappeared today, people's concepts still cannot be adjusted for a while. In addition, except for those samurai and descendants of dignitaries, most of the Japanese immigrants are bitter. Farmers, the best food they have ever eaten in their lives is white radish rice balls, and they can only eat it a few times a year because the current local land rent in Japan is too expensive.

The local people in Japan barely had enough to eat when they were in good times. When they were in bad years, they had to sell their sons and daughters. There were even cases where wives were sold to Kabukicho.

Even the word "miserable" cannot explain the suffering of the Japanese people during this period.

After arriving in Han Dynasty, they had no fat in their stomachs, so they ate high-calorie fried foods, especially puffed foods like corn. The excitement was like that of a person who has never had a full meal in his life, entering a cafeteria. , that feeling will be unforgettable for a lifetime! !

And what the Japanese dream of now can be eaten in a remote mountain village in Han China like Xiaohuang Village. What is the gap? This is the gap.

Jingle bell... Jingle bell...

The donkey carried Lin Yusheng from the mountain path to the foot of the mountain, where Xiaohuang Village is located. The copper ball bell on its neck was like a reminder to the people of Xiaohuang Village that a visitor was coming.

In the rice fields on both sides of the dirt road in Xiaohuang Village, several buffaloes that were eating rice stems just now raised their black heads after hearing the ringing of the bell, and looked at the stranger and the one they had never seen before with eyes like copper bells. animal. (Most of the livestock used in Lingnan Province are camels bred from China's southwest ponies and Han Dynasty horses. The height of these horses at the withers is about 1.2 to 1.3 meters)

In the village, a young man wearing cloth shoes was running out of the village when he heard the bell.

"Xiaohuang Village..." Lin Yusheng rode a donkey to the stone tablet, looked at the village name carved in red ink on it, and murmured to himself. "Who are you... and why do you come to my Xiaohuang Village??"

Just when Lin Yusheng was still lamenting that the village's name was too funny, a clear voice sounded from behind him.

Looking back, he saw a young man holding an old-fashioned musket, pointing it at him.

"Hurry up, or else I'll be ruined!!" The young man looked at this man with a weird head, couldn't help but clenched the 1840 retired flintlock gun in his hand, scolded him sternly, and made a If I can't answer, I feel like I'm going to shoot.

In fact, if you look carefully, you will find that the young man's shoulders are shaking slightly and his eyes are flickering, which shows that he does not dare to actually shoot.

After all, according to Han law, anyone who kills without reason must pay with his life.

There is no so-called suspended sentence in the Han Dynasty. Fixed-term imprisonment, debt repayment, murder for life, this is a natural principle. This has been true since ancient times, and it makes sense everywhere...

"Brother, wait a minute..." After Lin Yusheng turned around, he was startled by the sight in front of him. He almost fell off the donkey and shouted quickly, "So that little brother knows, I am coming from Hanzhou. I came to Lingnan to see the mountains..." Lin Yusheng made up a reason for himself to see the scenery.

"Mountain, what's so good about this broken mountain." Hearing Lin Yusheng mention the mountain, the young man was stunned for a moment. He looked up at the top of the mountain not far away. He didn't see what was so good about this mountain.

"Since you said you came from Hanzhou, is there a road sign??" The young man continued to hold the musket, imitating the appearance of the police chief in the nearby town, and asked Lin Yusheng. (Street sign, a pass issued by Han Dynasty, is mainly used across provinces. It contains the person's date of birth, location, etc., which facilitates the police in different places to check strangers)
"Of course there are road signs." Lin Yusheng was a little panicked when the gun was pointed at him. He tremblingly took out a colorful sign from his pocket and handed it to the boy.

"People from Xijing..." Looking at the word Xijing on the street sign, the boy's eyes widened. For a boy who grew up in such a small mountain village, the biggest cities he has been to are Jinshan City and Xijing City where immigrants stopped when he was a child. What's more? It is a legendary capital city.

"Are you really from Xijing??" The boy still doesn't want to believe that this guy with strange hairstyle, short in front and long in back, is from Xijing. I heard the teacher say, isn't Xijing the richest place in Han Dynasty? , the people there are very good at dressing, and they are good-looking. Why is it like this? The young man looked at Lin Yusheng and couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

"Of course..." Lin Yusheng looked at the way the other party looked at his head. Although he regretted why he didn't cut off his braids earlier, on the surface, he still had to admit it.

"Here..." Although the young man still didn't believe it, looking at the street sign in his hand, he couldn't tell whether it was genuine or not, so he simply returned the street sign, "Since you are from Hanzhou, why don't you go to a nearby city?" What are you doing in our village?" On the way into the village, the young man asked Lin Yusheng the reason.

goo goo...

Before Lin Yusheng could answer, his stomach growled.

"I'm hungry, but I have no choice but to be like this..." Lin Yusheng replied to the young man sheepishly, "Have you asked me your name yet?" Lin Yusheng took the opportunity of asking his name to change the topic and addressed the young man politely. Baoquando.

"No need to ask for advice. My name is Huang Yuhe. My father said that on the day I was born, there was a heavy rain in my hometown and the water accumulated into a small river, so he named me Huang Yuhe." The young man imitated Lin Yusheng's appearance and answered with clasped fists, his childish face A green smile appeared on his face.

"It turns out it's brother Yuhe..." Lin Yusheng climbed up using the pole and started chatting enthusiastically with Huang Yuhe.

"Brother Lin, you said you were originally from Suzhou and Hangzhou in China. Is there Xijing in Suzhou and Hangzhou?" After the two got acquainted with each other along the way, Huang Yuhe learned that Lin Yusheng came from China to the Han Dynasty, and he immediately He asked about the time of China.

"How should I put it? If you are a dignitary, then Suzhou and Hangzhou are Jiangnan, the misty Jiangnan described by the poet. If you are an ordinary citizen, then you have spent your whole life in the fields, and you might meet a bastard. This One year's work is all in vain..." Lin Yusheng said with emotion as he thought of his absurd landlord life in Jiangnan.

"So, which one is better, Han or Jiangnan?" Huang Yuhe then asked Lin Yusheng about the comparison between Jiangnan and Han.

"The country of Han is good, and the country of Han is a hundred times better than Jiangnan..." Lin Yusheng tied the donkey under a tree behind the village and said something that Huang Yuhe half understood and half didn't understand.

Huang Yuhe wanted to ask something else, but saw the village chief running over with a few people.

"Yuhe, who is this person??" Village Chief Huang looked at Lin Yusheng and the donkey tied under the big tree, and asked Huang Yuhe warily.

"Village Chief, let me introduce to you, this person is from Hanzhou..." Huang Yuhe saw the village chief and several other elders, and immediately told them Lin Yusheng's origins and the purpose of coming to the village.

Begging! !
"It turns out he is from Hanzhou." After hearing that Lin Yusheng was from Hanzhou, Village Chief Huang's frown relaxed and he said politely to Lin Yusheng.

"Village Chief... I'm hungry in my lower abdomen and want to borrow your village to beg for food..." Lin Yusheng respectfully pleaded to Village Chief Huang, "Don't worry, Village Chief, I will give you money." Lin Yusheng took out two coins from his inner pocket Kuai Huayuan continued to speak to the village chief.

"No, it's just a meal." Village Chief Huang looked at the two Huayuan pieces with Liu Peng's bust printed on them that Lin Yusheng took out. It was impossible to say that he didn't want them, but sometimes people are like this, and they tend to Because of face, you do things that are contrary to your heart.

"Mr. Lin, come to my house to eat, my mother's pumpkin pie..." Huang Yuhe invited Lin Yusheng to his house for dinner, and even talked about his mother's craftsmanship.

"This..." Lin Yusheng was a little embarrassed, "Since Brother Yuhe invited me, I will be disrespectful!!" Seeing Huang Yuhe's eager eyes, Lin Yusheng was too embarrassed to shirk, so he simply agreed.

"Okay, I'll go home and let my mother cook." Huang Yuhe was very happy when he heard Lin Yusheng agreed and pulled Lin Yusheng home.

Village Chief Huang behind him sighed and left here.

…………

"It's a family dinner, sir, please don't forgive me." Huang's mother walked to the kang with a dinner plate and greeted Lin Yusheng apologetically as he sat down cross-legged. (Because it is a mountainous area, the temperature difference between day and night is large, and it is relatively cold at night, so every household has built a heated kang)
"I can't do it, I can't do it..." Lin Yusheng looked at the stewed chicken, steamed river fish, stir-fried wild vegetables, and a bowl full of pumpkin cakes on the four plates, and replied with some fear. (Local wild vegetables in Lingnan Province)

"It's okay, you guys eat, I'll go to Lao Wang's house in the village and buy some wine." Huang's mother said to Lin Yusheng with a smile, and then went out to buy wine.

"This is indeed a waste of money!!" Lin Yusheng waited for Huang's mother to leave, looked at the four dishes on the table, especially the two meat dishes, and said to Huang Yuhe with some embarrassment.

"Brother Lin, don't be polite, just treat this as your own home." Huang Yuhe's words revealed the unique boldness of mountain people, "Come...eat!!" Huang Yuhe greeted Lin Yusheng with chopsticks.

Lin Yusheng looked at the dishes on the table, swallowed, then picked up a yellow-orange pumpkin cake and started to eat it. While eating, he said, "Your father, this cake is really delicious."

"Brother Lin, do you think the world outside is better than in the mountains?" Halfway through the meal, Huang Yuhe looked at Lin Yusheng expectantly and asked.

"Good or bad depends on people. If you are a stupid person, you should stay in the mountains, otherwise you will be easily deceived. If you are a smart person, you will naturally go outside to try your luck..." Lin Yusheng drank the rice wine that Huang's mother had just sent, Somewhat drunkenly, he replied to Huang Yuhe, "The so-called manly man must have great ambitions and far-sighted vision, and do something significant in the world, so that he can live up to his life..."

As he talked, Lin Yusheng became even more drunk. He thought of the obscure and difficult road to the imperial examination in the first half of his life, the things that happened when he came to Han, and the disdain he had for everything about Han. Gu, pointing mentality.

That is a feeling of self-deception.

"Brother Lin, tell me, can I walk out of the mountains and be a man?" Huang Yuhe asked Lin Yusheng anxiously.

"You..." Lin Yusheng looked this five-foot-tall boy up and down, with a ruddy face and bright eyes, and said, "A real man, you are a real man!!"

　Please give me a reward and make a full order.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)