Chapter 595 [Return to the original owner]
The feelings of other people around are a little different. Their words and exclamations to each other can't escape Fang Chang's super strong ears at all, and they are all heard.
Everyone is mainly lamenting that the imperial court is really rich to use iron to build roads. There are also people who are worried about whether someone will steal the iron, and then they are told that there will be a road guard team, and that destroying the railway track is a crime of destroying official roads, and they will deal with it quickly. Some people are also curious about Fang Gongji who is "far superior to cattle and horses".
However, a knowledgeable person explained that when a scholar was on his way, he encountered a sudden rain and had an adventure in a mountain temple. He was given a volume of heavenly scriptures by the immortals. It also developed and spread this method. It is said that the immortal's surname is Fang, so people call the machine "Fang Gongji".
"... When my cousin went to the imperial capital, I was fortunate enough to see the railroad track. The Fanggong plane on it was burning firewood, steaming, and rumbling forward. It was extremely scary..."
Many people listened to the news around them with curiosity in their eyes, and looked at the ever-extending roadbed with longing eyes.
"I don't know how long it will take to fix it."
"It's early. At present, I don't know how long it will take to repair the roadbed alone. It is said that the rails will be erected with sleepers in the future to bear the weight. Fortunately, the recruitment of civilians this time is for money, otherwise I don't know how much it will cause. Chaos, how many people will have their families destroyed..."
"Of course they are profitable, otherwise they would work so quickly?" Someone next to him added, which aroused the unanimous approval of the people around him.
While speaking, a group of people had already crossed the railway embankment and walked onto the stone bridge.
The stone bridge is quite old. The slightly arched bridge surface has been worn out for a long time, and there are some potholes. The railings on both sides are relatively not so dilapidated, and they should have been replaced as a whole before.
Below the bridge deck, there is a river that is not too wide, and the water is surging, heading straight to the south.
There are pieces of reed beside the water, rattling in the wind. The bridge deck is not low from the water, and there are small boats traveling in both directions in the river. Some of the small boats had sails hanging, and some boatmen stood at the stern and rowed oars and poled. However, before those sailboats passed the bridge opening, they had to lower their masts to pass through.
Fang Chang has heard the origin of the river below from the surroundings.
This was built when Wei He was in charge of water conservancy construction. It is said that he once visited here in person, dug and transported soil with everyone, and made great merit.
Fang Chang's destination was just outside the city on the opposite side of the river. After the river was repaired by the surrounding people, the floods stopped, the fields were harvested, and they gained the benefits of transportation. After Wei He's death, they discussed together and gave Wei He set up a temple on the edge of the city, and then there were sacrifices such as tribute, vegetables and fruits at four o'clock.
When approaching the small town, he said goodbye to Xie Yushan and left, and then went to find Wei He's temple alone.
It's not hard to find. This temple is located in the most prosperous place outside the city. Judging from the surrounding situation, it should be that after the temple was established, it attracted people who came to make a living. Vegetables, fruits, utensils, grain, oil, groceries, those who carry the burden and open the door, there is an endless stream of hawking. There are also many ordinary people who go to fortune-telling and scripture booths, or ask people to write and read letters, or seek some spiritual comfort.
As a street with temples as the core, there is no shortage of incense candles for sale here, and the competition among them is fierce, and the profits are thin due to involution. Fang Chang paid for some high-quality incense candles, put the second half into his backpack, took the other half into the temple, and lit it in front of the statue to pay respects to Wei He in the temple.
Light blue smoke floats from the incense burner, and then dissipates between heaven and earth.
Ning Shenpei flew to the waist of the statue of Wei He and hung there, very appropriate.
Fang Chang turned around and left after the joss stick was burned.
Outside, a scholar was looking at the young man who looked like his nephew, recounting his past deeds: "... this Duke Wei said, how can there be so many things in life, are they sure to be accomplished, or must be of value? Pull up your trouser legs and go down the river..."
Fang Chang smiled, and instead of continuing to listen, he walked out of the city.
A large amount of sorghum stalks are needed in the process of river control, so the tradition of planting sorghum in poorer lands has been left here. Now the river control has long since ended, but this habit still remains, so here is rich in various utensils made of sorghum stalks. There is also high-grade wine, which can be regarded as the legacy of the past.
Fang Chang walked into a tavern, bought a half jar of sorghum wine from the shopkeeper, and asked him to help put it into his gourd. The shopkeeper felt that the gourd in his hand was like a bottomless pit, as if it couldn't be filled no matter what, he was secretly startled but didn't dare to make a sound. Finally, Fang Chang took the gourd after paying the bill, thanked him and left.
Since Wei He’s temple left, his travels became more random and aimless. Gradually, the surrounding scenery changed, and the wheat fields became rice fields. There is a pear grove growing luxuriantly beside the path, half-sized pears are like a string of bells, swaying on the branches, and there is a family next to it, staying alone by the pear grove.
Suddenly remembered that I passed by here more than a hundred years ago, and bought a few pears for a few pennies. I remember that the pears here are sweet and juicy, and the skin is much thinner than that of Huaifengfu duck pears.
There is a small town in front of it, its appearance is quite familiar, and the word "Lu Ming" is written on the door plaque.
The teahouses in the small town are still there, but they have been overturned and repaired one after another in the past hundred years, and they don’t look like they used to be at all. There are still storytellers inside, telling the stories that have been handed down from the past, but after several times of development, the stories have already been completely out of shape, and it is difficult to see the original appearance.
"good!"
"One more paragraph!"
There was a lot of applause in the teahouse, but following the sentence "Sorry, sorry, everyone, that's all for today", the applause turned into booing, and there were criticisms and criticisms.
"I only say one paragraph a day, what kind of reward do you want? It's a good idea."
"Everyone knows that you like to tell stories about fairy tales, but you should go ahead and tell them when you think about it."
"You deserve to be poor."
"It's gone, it's gone, it's gone."
Fang Chang leaned over to take a look, and saw the young storyteller gritted his teeth and wanted to stick to his rules, so he couldn't help shaking his head.
He stepped forward and asked: "It's easy to say one more paragraph, why don't you continue? It sounds interesting."
The young man shook his head repeatedly and said, "Your Excellency, I don't know. The content I just described is the result of my creation in the dark recently. It's not that I don't want to use it, but I can't guarantee that I can continue to use it after I use it up, so I dare not say more." Then, he said: "It would be great if there were gods in the world, alas."
(end of this chapter)