Late Tang

The fourth Geng day after the summer solstice comes, and it also ushers in the hottest day of the year.Dog days are the hottest period of the year, the highest temperature, and the most yang energy. Especially this year, it has not rained for more than a month. The previous rains were also drizzle, thunder and heavy rain It was small, and the rain stopped before the ground was soaked.

"The continuous drought is getting worse and worse. The crops have already died of drought. Now even people's drinking water is becoming a problem. Another well in the south of the city has been wiped out!" Guo Chengan kept fanning while holding a fan. Said to Li Jing at the same time.

Li Jing was holding a folding fan in the same way, and he didn't stop for a moment. Even so, he still couldn't stop the scorching heat. Sweat kept streaming down his clothes. It didn't take long for his clothes to dry and become wet again.The drought continues and disasters continue.Just pulled out the food, got work relief, and finally solved the problem of food for the victims, but in a blink of an eye came the problem of drinking water again.

"The situation in Dengzhou is even better. Now the counties below are flying like snowflakes. Up to now, the wells of more than 100 villages in the four counties of Dengzhou have dried up and there is no water. The situation of many other villages is also very bad. Not good, many wells are out of water." Maybe because of what Li Jing said to Li Huier that day, Li Huier finally told Zhao Wang Li Rui.Now Li Rui is active again. Not only is he full of energy, but he also takes the initiative to deal with some chores in the state.

"Then what do you do with the water?" Li Jing asked.A person may be able to survive for seven or eight days without food, but a person may not be able to survive for three days without drinking water.

"Some villages without water went to the mountains to get spring water, and some villages were temporarily relocated to other villages. But if it doesn't rain again, there will be more villages without water." Chang Shi Han Anmin also said.

"Organize artisans and civilian husbands to dig wells!" Li Jing said helplessly.The weather is so dry that many small rivers and streams have stopped flowing, and now even many wells have dried up.Under such circumstances, relocating people is not a perfect solution. "Ask the best well-drilling master to dig a deep well!"

Several people nodded and went back to arrange the well digging.

However, in the following days, the results of drilling wells were not satisfactory.In many places, wells have to be dug seven or eight feet deep to see water.In some places, even at a depth of ten feet, there is no water to be seen.Water has now become more valuable than food, and Li Jing had to let the troops stationed in various counties deliver water to some villages that were in short supply by horse-drawn carts.

"Master, it won't work like this." Zhang Hong went directly to Li Jing. He spent a lot of manpower and material resources digging the well these days, but the result was very bad.Only [-]% of the wells drilled have water, and half of them have limited water every day.However, the manpower and material resources required to drill wells are not discounted.Looking at the money spent every day like running water, Zhang Hong felt extremely distressed.

"Set up an altar to pray for rain!" Zhang Hong said directly.

"Praying for rain?" Li Jing followed up. Praying for rain can be described as a very traditional activity.The northern region is dry and rainless all year round. In order to survive and live, people burn incense and pray, praying for the heavenly angels to give birth to clouds and rain to save the people.

The rest of Dengzhou had already started to pray for rain. Under the severe drought, the people spontaneously prayed for rain.Especially in the Dragon King Temple in Dengzhou, countless people go to burn incense and pray for rain every day.

However, these have always been private activities of the people.For Li Jing, whether it rains or not is a natural weather condition and has nothing to do with burning incense and worshiping Buddha.Li Zhen, Li Liang, and Guo Chengan, who were processing official documents, all raised their heads and looked at Li Jing.After following Li Jing for so long, they have also figured out some of Li Jing's concepts. For example, the lord doesn't seem to believe in ghosts and gods, and he seems to be silent and confused.

Li Zhen changed his mind, and said: "Zhang Lushi's proposal is good. Now the drought has not rained for a long time, and the people are worried. There have even been many rumors below, saying that this is a punishment from heaven. My lord, now At that time, it is urgent to set up an altar to worship the sky and pray for rain."

"Do you also believe that you can get rain by praying to the sky?" Li Jing asked.

Guo Chengan shook his head and said, "Whether you can ask for rain is one thing, but whether you can ask for it or not is another."

Li Jing was thoughtful, and Guo Chengan and the others naturally wouldn't believe that rain could be obtained, but their words revealed an important message.That is, in the current situation, Li Jing appeared to pray for rain on behalf of the government, which is actually important to stabilize people's hearts.In a year of severe drought, such an approach may even be more recognized by the people and stabilize the situation than digging wells to deliver water.

"Okay, you guys make arrangements to build a rain prayer altar and prepare to pray for rain."

On the same day, the Dengzhou government began to post notices, saying that Li Jing, the governor, was going to build an altar for praying for rain and was going to pray for rain.As soon as this notice came out, many people rushed to help build the altar.In three days, a nine-foot-high earthen altar has been successfully built.

Li Zhen also deliberately calculated a Zodiac Day, and also specially recruited Yuan Hong, an authority on astronomical observation.Yuan Hong is now the leading Onmyoji in the Zhendong Army, Li Jing specially recruited a group of people for him, and asked him to set up a weather forecasting team, which is responsible for weather observation.After hearing Li Zhen's question, Yuan Hong pondered for a while, pinching his fingers and calculating randomly, like a magic stick.

"There has been little rain in the past month, but the day after tomorrow is a little different. According to my guess, there may be a thunderstorm at noon the day after tomorrow, but it may not."

"How sure are you?" Li Liang asked excitedly.If it is really possible to detect that there will be rain the day after tomorrow, then it would be great if Li Jing prayed for rain at that time.It rained as soon as Li Jing prayed for rain, which was unimaginable to many people.And this is exactly what Li Liang and the others are happy to see.

"This is a vision, it is difficult to grasp, I guess there is only one in a hundred possibilities!"

One percent is also possible, Li Liang squeezed excitedly in front of Li Jing, whispering about his plan.Li Jing frowned at first, but finally nodded.

On the same day, Li Liang sent people to the street to post notices and beat the gong to announce that Li Jing would go to the altar to pray for rain in three days.And a little later, in many streets and alleys, restaurants and tea shops in Dengzhou City, a rumor was circulating.

"Do you know, I heard that Li Shijun went to the Dragon Palace of the East China Sea in his dream last night, and asked the Dragon King of the East China Sea to borrow rain. The Dragon King said that the severe drought was a punishment from God, but for the sake of Li Shijun's sincerity and dedication to the people, I will let you go." Take advantage of the rain in Dengzhou. That is, at noon the day after tomorrow, it will rain in Dengzhou."

"Is it really going to rain the day after tomorrow?"

"The Dragon King said it was borrowing rain, but I heard that there is still a condition, that is, although he is willing to borrow rain for Li Shijun's face, it depends on whether the people in Dengzhou are sincere. If he is sincere, he will rain, if not Sincerity, I won't surrender." The man said with a nose and a face, as if he was dreaming about the Dragon Palace with Li Jing.

This kind of dialogue was going on all over Dengzhou, and even spread like wind to every village in the four counties of Dengzhou that day.

The altar has been erected, and now there is the matter of Li Jing borrowing rain from the Dragon King. Most people believe this extremely ridiculous words from Li Jing.Sometimes it is like this, no matter how absurd the words are, the people only want to believe what they want to believe.They just want it to rain, but there is a possibility, and they are willing to believe it.

On June 23, Li Jing officially went to the altar to pray for rain.Today Li Jing changed into a gown of gossip Taoism, holding a seven-star sword in his hand, with disheveled hair and bare feet. This image of a magic stick was completely packaged by brothers Li Zhen and Li Liang.

Li Jing climbed to the nine-zhang high altar, and there were 36 boys and 72 girls standing around the altar, holding a clean bottle with willow branches in it.

Under the altar, tens of thousands of people in Dengzhou worshiped and prayed together. For today's ceremony, all the workshops on the construction site were closed for one day.

With disheveled hair and a sword in hand, Li Jing danced with his hands and feet, dancing the dance of praying for rain that he had learned carefully in the past three days, and chanting words of praying for rain in his mouth.

"Government without temperance? Make the people ill?

Why doesn't it rain to Siji!

The honor of the eunuch?Ladies and gentlemen?

Why doesn't it rain to Siji!

Baoju line with?Slander husband Xing and?

Why doesn't it rain to Siji! "

After finishing this set, Li Jing sat cross-legged on the altar, closed his eyes, and began to communicate with the Dragon King.Of course, this is an outsider's idea. In fact, Li Jing just danced for a long time and the master was a little tired, so he sat there to rest.

At this time, a team of twelve people began to wear hideous ghost masks, holding a spear in one hand and a shield in the other, shouting "Nuo, Nuo..." while dancing, running to every corner, jumping and dancing beat.

After the Nuo dance begins, it's time to carry the Dragon King!

Eighteen strong men took out the Dragon King gold coins from the Dragon King Temple, carried them through the streets, and finally carried them to the altar to be worshiped by everyone.Then the next step is to fight the drought. People think that the drought is the god of drought, and if there is no rain in the drought, it is the fault of the drought.Therefore, when it does not rain that day, it is necessary to fight drought.

Fighting Hanba is actually a very barbaric and cruel behavior. Many people think that Hanba is the child born in October when pregnant women are pregnant during severe drought.Some of the more brutal ones will directly use drugs to abort their fetuses and whip them.Some of them are better, they bring the pregnant woman out and pour water on her, which is called watering the mother of drought.While watering, I have to ask the mother of the drought to promise when it will rain.

Ordinary pregnant women will die suddenly if they are constantly watered.Since Li Jing accepted the governor of Dengzhou, he hated such bad habits, and issued several orders strictly prohibiting watering the drought mother, and also prohibiting the bad habit of falling into the drought.

The current drought strikes are no longer allowed to use real people. Instead, straw is tied to look like a pregnant woman, and then watered by people.After nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine drops of water have been poured, the ceremony is considered to be over.

The next thing is the rain ceremony.For this ceremony, a group of widows and young girls must be found to sweep the soil along the street, shake clear water with willow sticks, and then everyone raises small flags and beats gongs and drums.From the morning until almost noon, all the ceremonies were completed, and all that was left was to wait for the Dragon King to rain.

But God didn't seem to give face, the sky was clear without a single cloud.The sun hung in the sky like a ball of fire, and many people who knelt down to pray for rain were dizzy from the sun.Especially when the sun was approaching noon, it was even more exciting, and some weak people had already begun to faint.

Li Jing also had a hard time on the stage. On the nine-foot-high stage, there were no obstacles. He was still wearing a wide robe and his hair was loose. There was no wind under the sun, and Li Jing was almost sun-baked. heatstroke.He couldn't help feeling a little regretful that Brother Li Liang really came up after such a fool, especially those rumors that he borrowed rain from the Dragon King in his dream, but seeing the current situation, this is the one percent probability that Yuan Hong said Sure enough, it's still unreliable. It really won't rain for a while, how will this matter end?

As noon approached, the shadow of the flagpole planted on the ground became shorter and shorter, and Li Jing couldn't sit still.Among the people kneeling below, more and more women and children collapsed from heatstroke.

Just when Li Jing was about to give up and let those common people go home to escape the heat, suddenly his hair moved slightly.A gust of wind blew by, and the whole person felt much lighter.Li Jing looked up, and saw that the sky was still blue and cloudless just now, and at some point, a cloud was blowing rapidly.

The sun, which was still radiating thousands of golden rays just now, was suddenly covered by dark clouds, and the breeze blew past, making it extremely cool.

An old man in his 80s in the audience cried excitedly: "God has shown a miracle, the Dragon King is here to make rain!"

There were bursts of cheers, and everyone was already desperate, but they didn't expect that it was really going to rain at this time.The sky was still clear just now, but now it is suddenly dark clouds and the sun, and looking at the time again, it is almost noon.

At this time, Li Jing on the stage was also excited. He didn't expect that this [-]% probability would really come true.Immediately standing up excitedly, he couldn't help but waved his fists and clapped his hands, shouting to vent the uneasiness and excitement in his heart just now.

Under the nine-zhang high platform, the common people didn't see it clearly, they just saw Li Jing waving and yelling at the sky on the stage, they thought it was the Dragon King coming, and Li Jing was greeting the Dragon King.

Li Liang secretly asked people to shout in the crowd: "The Dragon King of the East China Sea has come with the rain, and he is talking to Liu Shijun!"

This shout was immediately spread to ten, ten to hundreds, and hundreds to thousands. Everyone agreed that the governor Li Jing was talking to the Dragon King right now.

"Boom!" There was a thunder in the sky, Li Jing was startled, and quickly stuck the seven-star sword in his hand to the ground.On the nine-zhang platform, holding a sword to the sky is really stupid, it's just a trick.

After a thunderstorm, countless pea-sized raindrops crashed down.

(To be continued)