"Thanks to Xu Gong, the people of Jiaodong can no longer have doubts."

At noon that day, Heifu held a reception banquet for Xu Sheng and several peasant disciples in the county guard's mansion.

Heifu has been in Kanto for so long, scholars of all schools have seen it, although this group of intellectuals is not rich and noble, but they are not ambiguous in dressing: they all wear crowns and swords, and their appearance is neat, even Chen Ping is not vulgar, he was laughed at by the villagers because of his poor family, but he was dressed clean and decent.

Confucian scholars also need to buy a tall and majestic Confucian crown, and Yin and Yang Fangshi need to be elegant and fairy, just to pass the impression when lobbying the princes.

But today, the peasant disciples brought by Xu Sheng are particularly special, all of them are wearing coarse linen short clothes, and under their feet are the common grass shoes of Qichu farmers: it is said that everything on their bodies is exchanged for grain grown by their own hands. They were in their thirties, but they looked like they were forty, and their hands were calloused, and it was obvious that they had really gone to the ground, wielded farm tools, and their faces were as tanned as those of the black man.

Even when he saw Heifu's attitude, he was undoubtedly the same as that of an ordinary farmer, who was restrained and honest, and fidgeted at the banquet, and Xu Sheng, the eldest, was well-informed and could talk to Heifu.

Xu Sheng first asked Heifu to remove the lacquerware and bronze ware, and they could use the simple pottery they brought, and Heifu agreed one by one. He rejected Heifu's toast again, saying that our peasant family did not drink wine that wasted food, and only took a sip of soup and said with a smile:

"The county guard is serious, after the old man left Qin, he also took his disciples to wander in Linzi and Jiaodong, stayed in the local area for a while, taught farmers to farm, the locals called me Xu Jumang, I don't want ten years to pass, they still remember me......"

Xu Sheng spoke fluent Guanzhong dialect, which is not surprising, Heifu heard that this farmer was a colleague of Prime Minister Li Si back then, and he was a guest of Lü Buwei and wrote "Lü's Spring and Autumn" in Xianyang!

The peasant family is an outlier among the hundreds of princes, they are a bit like the Mo, they live a very simple life, wear ordinary coarse cloth clothes, although they advocate farming, they do not have an inch of land of their own, and live a life of traveling around the world. is not like Confucianism to pursue high-ranking officials and Houlu, only hoping to get a hundred acres of land, several acres of houses, settle down, and lead the local people to study farming techniques.

The ancestor of Shennong, inheriting the cause of Houji, pays attention to sowing hundreds of grains, persuades mulberry, and satisfies the people with food and clothing. If there is enough grain, the people will be enough, and if the people are enough, the world will be enough, which is their consistent concept......

Having professionals to help their own national territory develop production should be a matter of applause for the kings and feudal monarchs, but the farmers have been suffering from no place to stand. Because a hundred years ago, their leader, Xu Xing, snatched the students from Mencius and offended the scholar severely. Mencius's view of the gateway and the view of the region are extremely important, so it is difficult for the peasant family to develop in Jixia Xuegong and Qilu.

In the end, the peasants only sought a place in Tengguo, a small country in Sishang. During the reign of Teng Wengong, the peasant family opened up land in Teng and farmed with the local people, and enjoyed themselves, but after Teng was destroyed by the Song Dynasty, they could only leave there......

In those years, the princes joined forces vertically and horizontally, the Qin Dynasty and the twilight of Qi, and the East was in chaos. The Song State destroyed the Teng State, and then was killed by Qi, and the Qi State was attacked by the Five Kingdoms, and almost died, and there were wars everywhere, which was indeed not a good time for farmers to develop their productive forces.

The peasant family was displaced in this way, and it declined for a long time, until Xu Xing's grandson Xu Sheng, but there was a rare opportunity: Qin Prime Minister Lü Buwei wanted to follow the example of the four princes and invite the farmer to Qin!

Speaking of it during the banquet, Xu Sheng was still full of praise for what he saw and heard when he entered Qin:

"Its people are simple, its vocal music is not dirty, its clothes are simple but not luxurious, the farmer gets up at dawn, and works diligently until the evening, I walk the world, but I have never seen such a simple people."

Qin's government is also very good, from a small official to a prime minister, the core concept of the operation of the government is: don't delay the people's farming! Everything that could affect agriculture, such as travelers and merchants, was suppressed and banned, and in order to encourage production, the Qin state did everything possible.

Seeing this situation, Xu Sheng almost cried, their farmers traveled all over the world, searching for decades, didn't they just want to find such a government.

Qin Zheng coincided with the farmer, so the farmer stayed in Qin wholeheartedly, Xu Sheng also won the appreciation of Lü Buwei, he based on the experience summarized by the farmer over the years, for the "Lü's Spring and Autumn Period" contributed "Shangnong", "Rendi", "Defending the Land", "Judging the Time", and "Twelve Chronicles" several articles.

Heifu smiled: "When I was in Xianyang, I read these articles. I don't know about the other chapters, but these articles handled by the farmer, although the text is simple, are worthy of the name of a thousand words! ”

After the praise was finished, Heifu also raised his own questions: "After Duke Xu and the peasant family entered Qin, Qin used iron farming tools and improved farming techniques. ”

Many of the peasant families who entered Qin also stayed, and most of them worked as field officials in the central or local governments, but Xu Sheng ran away.

Xu Sheng's answer was a little hesitant: "After Lu Xiang was relieved of the position of prime minister, I went to Henan with him." Later, Lü Xiangxu (hōng) died, and heard that His Majesty wanted to expel the guests of the Six Kingdoms, and moved Lü Xiangmen to Bashu, old and timid, so he took his disciples back to Tengxian County......"

This is half true and half false, don't look at Xu Sheng smiling, but he is a very gracious person, Lü Buwei had the grace of knowing him back then, he was deeply grateful, and it can be seen from the various honorific titles for Lü Buwei.

After the fall of Lü Buwei, the merits of the previous ten years were completely denied by Qin Shi Huang, and Xu Sheng suddenly felt cold and left Qin.

That was already twenty years ago, and in the past twenty years, the peasant family has made a big detour and walked in Qi, Chu and other countries, but no matter which country it is, the government does not have the peasants of the Qin State, and the people are not as simple as the Qin people. Either they are too lazy and have to get by, or they have too much thought, and their energy is focused on business and study tours, and they are unwilling to farm honestly.

Xu Sheng couldn't help but sigh after turning around Linzi and Jiaodong.

"No wonder the princes are all weak, but Qin is the only strong. Those who can go to the farmer will be strong in the country! ”

Just when they had achieved nothing for 20 years, Qin merged the world. But Xu Sheng was also old and didn't want to go back to Guanzhong, so he farmed in Tengxian and other places......

It is also unfortunate that when Heifu personally went to Teng County to find Xu Sheng, he was in a neighboring county, and Heifu was short of time, so he left a handwritten letter and asked the doorman to wait, and after a month, he sent Chen Ping over and invited Xu Sheng.

"Even if Chen Changshi is not allowed to invite the old man in person, just the two sentences left by the county guard, the old man has to come to Jimo in person."

Xu Sheng saw that Xiao He, Cao Shen and others present were puzzled, so he smiled, put the pottery plate that had eaten all and there was not a grain of rice left, raised the bamboo chopsticks that were also his own, knocked on the plate, and said:

"At noon on hoeing day, sweat drops into the soil. Who knows that Chinese food is hard work! ”

"This is the county keeper who asked people to leave a book and give a message, although it is only a few sentences, but it has exhausted the hard work of farming!"

Xu Sheng was very moved, these words are very simple, but they are extremely detailed, and only those who have really experienced farming and have compassion for the peasants can say it!

When he first read it, he was shocked, and when he read it again, he thought of his decades of searching, of the hundred years of wandering of the farmer, and of the thousands of years of hard work of the farmer since Shennong's family......

Whoever can write such a poem must be a good official who takes farming to heart!

Everyone at the banquet was full of praise, Xiao He was also surprised, he turned his head to look at Chen Ping on the side: "I didn't know that the county guard could also compose poems?" ”

Chen Ping smiled mysteriously: "Although the county gentleman was poor when he was young, he was talented and intelligent, and he was tireless in learning, why is it strange?" ”

Heifu said humbly to everyone: "I am also from the head of Qian, and I cultivated the land with my brother when I was young, so I know it." ”

In front of the Mo family and the peasant family, Heifu's poor background can add a lot of points. In order to trick the peasants into coming to Jiaodong to help him, he had to let go of his temperance, Xu Shengneng left the Qin State for Lu Buwei's kindness, and if he wanted him to help him, he had to let the old man look good.

A poem of compassion for the peasants moved his heart, and then let Chen Ping know the reason, Xu Xing heard that Heifu wanted to promote the very novel compost method in Jiaodong in recent years, so he was glad to come!

After the end of the commercial blowing, Heifu and Xu Sheng discussed the matter, Xu Sheng had promised that he would take the peasant disciples to live in Jiaodong, cultivate the hundreds of acres of land provided by the government, and further study more advanced agricultural technology.

It's just that Xu Sheng frowned again and sighed: "It's a pity that the public toilet in Jiaodong was built at the beginning, and the manure was insufficient, and there were only 100 households who could use compost to make fertilizer." ”

After many years, he met the right person again, and Xu Lao couldn't wait to show his strength immediately and make up for the wasted time.

Heifu was relieved: "Manure needs to be collected over the years, if you apply less, the effect is not obvious, and it can only be promoted slowly." But don't worry about it, there is one thing, but you can start it immediately, and before the end of spring ploughing, it can spread throughout the county! ”

Xu Sheng was curious: "What is it, it can be so fast." ”

Heifu got up, pointed to an object in the courtyard of the county government and said, "Duke Xu should know, what is this?" ”

Xu Sheng glanced at it, it was an upright wooden pole with a stone plate under it, and he said, "Isn't this Tugui who measures the shadow of the sun?" ”

Heifu bowed: "However, the ancients measured the shadow of the sun with Tugui, the longest shadow of the sun is the winter solstice, the shortest is the summer solstice, and the length of day and night is equal in each day in spring and autumn, which is set as the spring equinox and autumn equinox, which is the four solar terms that have been in three generations. ”

"By the time of the week, the solar terms became eight, and there were more beginning of spring, beginning of summer, beginning of autumn, and beginning of winter. And in the Spring and Autumn Period of the Lu Clan, which Xu Gong participated in compiling, it became the December Ji ......"

The solar terms are a supplementary calendar used to guide agricultural affairs, and the people in daily life predict the cold, warm, snow and rain, and know which solar term to do what.

Heifu said: "But I secretly think that the solar terms are still not detailed enough, and they can still be divided into 24 solar terms, and the peasant disciples will compile the summary of each solar term and agricultural affairs, and the government will copy it on paper and distribute it to the county and township officials for use as the lunar calendar." Then let people make up ballads and sing them in dialect slang that the old woman can understand, so that the family is a household name! ”