Chapter 211 The prince goes to the countryside
The outskirts of Chang'an, Bashang.
Qin Lang, Chu Suiliang and other teachers from the Chongxian Hall brought a group of students to Bashang. The high plains are two completely different worlds from the capital Chang’an. Although the distance is only tens of miles away, it is even high on the plain Can overlook Chang'an.
Ke Lao Wu is a charcoal burner. Cutting firewood and chopping firewood made his hands full of calluses, and carrying firewood on his shoulders made his back hunched so badly. His face was full of furrow-like wrinkles, many and deep. A face was extremely dark, and it was hard to tell whether it was tanned or blackened by charcoal.
"This is the chicken given to you by His Royal Highness, and these are the eggs and food given by the Chongxian Hall."
A reed chicken, the feathers have been plucked, the belly has been cut open, and the treatment is very clean. In addition, there are twenty eggs, two buckets of corn, a piece of cloth, and ten catties of lard.
Except for the chicken that was raised by the crown prince, the rest are condolence supplies purchased with money from the Chongxian Hall.
Ke Laowu looked at these things in front of him in disbelief.
"This is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" Qin Lang pointed at Cheng Qian and shouted to the charcoal burner who seemed to be deaf.
The old man looked at the pedestrian suspiciously, he looked at Cheng Qian, then at Qin Lang, finally at the things in front of him, and finally swallowed.
Li was rushing over, very panicked.
"Ke Laowu is an old bachelor who has never married a woman in his life. He has burned charcoal all his life. He has never left the plateau and never been to Chang'an. He is a Qiang man..." Lizheng explained somewhat with.
Then he yelled at Ke Laowu like a cannonball, and what he said seemed to be Qiang language with Chinese interspersed. According to the explanation of the person who came next to the Zhenfu Division, Qin Lang knew that it turned out that he was in Bashang. There are many Qiang people in this area, and all dynasties have often resettled some Qiang people from Longyou here.
Some of these Qiang people were defeated and captured, and some were voluntarily attached. In short, there are many Qiang people here, so many people here speak half-Han and half-Qiang, and their language is quite special.
Ke Laowu finally understood the dignity of this group of people, so he knelt down and thanked them.
Qin Lang supported him, and the old man hugged those things happily.
"Old man, can we go in and have a look at your house?" Qin Lang asked, and the old man invited them in. In fact, this so-called home is nothing more than a simple and low thatched hut. The chaimen is narrow and dark, and because he is a bachelor, the house is still messy and disorderly.
Prince Chengqian, who had just entered, even tripped over debris and almost fell down.
It took a while for everyone to get used to the darkness in the room.
There is only a thatched hut, no stove, only a simple firepit, with a few stones piled on it, and then a pottery pot missing a piece, and the walls beside the firepit are blackened by smoke.
On the other side of the firepit is a bed, which is actually made of adobe bricks built on the uneven ground, and then two wooden planks are laid on top, wheat straw is placed on the bottom, and a few dirty sheepskins are spread on top, probably used as bed sheets And when the quilt.
Chengqian saw that there was some black mush in the broken clay pot, and he could barely see that there seemed to be some wild vegetables in it.
"What's this?"
Ke Laowu explained that this was his lunch, which had just been prepared, and generously invited the prince and Qin Lang to have it together.
"Here I added dried locusts, a handful of millet, some wild vegetables, and a few loaches I touched. It's a good thing, it's so beautiful!"
Ke Laowu picked up a spoon to scoop up some homemade dark food, and warmly invited His Royal Highness to have a taste, saying that His Highness would definitely not be able to taste such delicious food.
Angrily, he was scolding him there, "His Royal Highness hasn't eaten anything, why don't you?"
Chengqian backed away in panic. He didn't expect there to be such an ugly and smelly food in the world. The fried noodles he ate in the restaurant before, he thought it was the worst thing in the world.
It’s really not as good as the feed his chickens usually eat.
Ke Lao Wu is hungry, he only eats twice a day. In the current disaster, fortunately, there is government relief, and they take everyone to catch locusts. The dried locusts can be ground into powder, mixed with the grain that was distributed during the locust catch, and cooked into porridge, and some wild vegetables are added. It is really delicious.
Burning charcoal is a coolie job, and he is not as strong as before as an old bachelor. Now this season is not the time to burn charcoal, so life is more difficult. Fortunately, there is government relief this year.
"The imperial court equalizes the land, one hundred acres per square meter. Didn't you receive the land, old man? Why don't you plow and cultivate the land? Isn't it better than burning charcoal?" Chengqian asked.
Old man Ke grinned, revealing a few missing gums, "Jun Tian is not even above my head."
Li Zheng explained to the side with some panic, saying that Mr. Ke is five years old, and his family is so poor that he doesn't even have a hoe. Besides, Bashang has a small land and a lot of people, so it has always been difficult to teach, so it was divided twice when the country was first established field, there will be no field to divide in the future. Although Ke Laowu is an old man in Bashang, he was conscripted to serve in Shandong at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and then returned after living there for ten years. When he came back, he had no land to divide, so he had to resume his old business and continue to sell charcoal. .
This explanation made Chengqian a little unconvinced. After all, what he had heard were all the basic national policies of the imperial court, such as the order of land equalization, the adjustment of rent and subordination, and the military system of the government. Not everyone is assigned to the field, and those who are assigned are not enough to teach.
"Old man, let me cook two dishes for you!" Qin Lang said.
But the old man was a little bit reluctant to part with the things that had just been delivered, "It's good to eat with this porridge, keep those."
"Then I'll pickle it for you!"
Qin Lang took a look, it was the coarse salt with many impurities.
The old man was quite reluctant to put more, saying that it would be good to spread some salt and hang it on the firepit to smoke. As for the eggs, Qin Lang didn't know if the old man would sell them someday and exchange them for millet or other things, after all Although the price of eggs has dropped now, they are still good things that can be exchanged for money and food. In the countryside, they are hard currency.
After staying at the old man's house for a while, Cheng Qian was much silent.
It was really the first time for him to come into contact with this kind of bottom-level common people.
After came out, the little fat man Li Tai said, "This old man's house is too dirty. It must be because he was lazy that he didn't marry a wife, and his life is so bad!"
Qin Lang told him, "Don't draw conclusions so easily. Many people's lives are not good because they don't work hard enough. On the contrary, the vast majority of people who work extremely hard do not live well."
This made Li Tai very dissatisfied.
Accompanied by Li Zheng, Qin Lang took the students to the next house.
An old couple lived with six or seven children. The oldest child was in his teens, and the youngest was only three or four years old. After asking, they found out that these children were the grandchildren of the old man, the children of his two sons. Both sons died in the war and famine since the end of Sui Dynasty.
"Where is the daughter-in-law?"
"The eldest daughter-in-law died of illness, and the second daughter-in-law remarried."
The old couple looked like they were in their 70s or 80s. After asking, they found out that they were only in their fifties.
Although the family still has tens of acres of land, it is still too hard to raise so many children. Most of the land in Bashang lacks water, so it can only grow millet, and the old man's family has no cattle to plow, so he can only use manpower. Therefore, it is a rough rotation, extensive planting, and little harvest, and one acre can only be harvested with less than one stone.
Drought in the first half of this year, almost no crops, and locust plagues in the second half of the year.
Fortunately, the imperial court first waived the rent transfer for this year, and then used work as a substitute to organize everyone to catch locusts for disaster relief. They distributed some rations, cooked porridge with locusts, and some wild vegetables and leaves. Said, this is already a thousand thanks to the court.
Chengqian felt his face burning when he heard them say thank the emperor over and over again for thanking the court.
Their days passed so quickly, their houses were almost bare, the clothes of the old man and the children were also patched and patched, and it was already winter, but the children were still barefoot, and their trouser legs were hanging down to their knees. There are always two snot in the nostrils of small children...
"They are so pitiful!" Cheng Qian said.
"No, relatively speaking, they are actually living a better life than many people in the world. At least they still have a home, at least they are not hungry yet."
Not hungry, it is indeed better than many people.
Chengqian was shocked and dumbfounded.
"I am telling the truth."
"The teacher should not be talking about the scene at the end of the previous dynasty. Now that the Tang Dynasty is unified, the lives of the people should be easier."
"Compared to the days when everyone was in dire straits in the last years of the previous dynasty, many people's lives are indeed better now, but it is only relative. If you are hungry, you can have food, if you are sleepy, you can have a place to shelter from the wind and rain, and you have clothes in winter. To shelter from the cold is the ideal life of many people.”
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"I want to help them!" Cheng Qian said suddenly.
Qin Lang smiled, it is very good for the child to think of these things.
"Your idea is very good, but if you just plan to reward them with some money and food, I don't think it makes much sense."
“So how can I help them?”
"The sage once said that it is better to teach people to fish than to give them fish. If you really want to help them, you should not just give them money and food for a while, but find a long-term way out of poverty for them."
"for example?"
"For example, the charcoal-burning old man, when he is old, continuing to cut firewood and burn charcoal will not improve his plight in life, so you can teach him a new skill, or directly find a stable job for him, such as arranging him to go to Chong Work as a fireman in the Xianguan cafeteria, or as a handyman who beats the clock and rings the bell, and so on."
Chengqian thought about it, and he didn't know any other money-making skills, but it would be no problem to arrange for Ke Laowu to work as a handyman in the Chongxian Hall.
"I suggest, why don't you pair up with a poor family that we visit and condolence today, and you are responsible for helping them get rid of poverty, it is best not to simply give money, or arrange a job, etc. Even if this is your new social practice class, I ask you to carefully understand the lives of the people you help, know their current situation, understand their past, and figure out why they are in the current predicament. Then come up with a solution , Find a way to improve them, remember to make a detailed observation report, I will give you a score, simply give money or directly hire them, there will be no results!"
Qin Lang took advantage of the opportunity to propose the second social practice course of Chongxian Hall, and the children responded enthusiastically. They thought this course was good and were eager to try it.
"Helping others is the foundation of happiness, it seems that you have all realized the meaning of this sentence!" Qin Lang laughed, "Continue to the next one!"
There are always various reasons for unhappy families. If they can be pulled, many people will indeed be out of trouble.
(end of this chapter)