During this time, Chen Xu did not go out, but just stayed in Qiaofu every day to learn Chinese characters, study the art of war, and became more proficient in the study of time.

September is another harvest season, but there are no smiles on the faces of many farmers. A rare drought has swept across the country, and grain output will be seriously reduced.

On this day, the sky was exceptionally clear, and when Chen Xu passed by the firewood house, he was surprised to see a water snake entrenched on the firewood.

"The water snake coils the firewood, and the underground rains flow. Is it going to rain? Don't let it rain in a row! ”

If it rains all the time of harvest, the second half of the year will definitely be a no-brainer.

In this way, I don't know how many people will starve to death.

Chen Xu observed carefully in the courtyard, and saw that there were many ants moving, his heart jumped, and he muttered: "Is it really going to rain?" ”

In order to confirm whether his guess was correct, Chen Xu hurriedly ran out of the bridge mansion.

"Don't let it rain." Chen Xu prayed secretly in his heart.

In a few days, the grain will be harvested, although the yield is severely reduced due to the drought, but some can still be harvested, and I don't know how many lives can be saved by these grains.

……

Running outside the city, Chen Xu observed carefully, and he saw that the remaining fish and loaches in the river began to jump to the water, and his heart sank.

He continued on his walk until he came to a grove of trees.

There are many autumn cicadas in this forest, and the cicadas chirp intermittently, the sound is extremely beautiful, but Chen Xu feels that their calls are so harsh.

Looking up at the sky, which was a little too bright, Chen Xu said in despair: "Loaches and fish jumping out of the water symbolize heavy rain. ”

"As the saying goes, 'When the sky is bright, the river rises', 'The cicadas call to stop, even the rain is coming', why is it raining heavily, why is it raining continuously?"

In the end, Chen Xu looked at the sky and roared angrily.

It's really a disaster, if it rains even a little bit, Chen Xu can't imagine what the consequences will be.

In the fields, there are some farmers working, they are frightened by the drought, and they don't want it to rain quickly, and they hear the young man next to them say that it is going to rain heavily, and it is even rainy, and they are a little scoffed.

"Young man, look at the weather, it's so dry, so sunny, is it likely to rain?"

A man shook his head and said to Chen Xu: "It's good if it rains, it's been dry for more than half a year, and if it doesn't rain again, even the water to drink will be almost gone." ”

Seeing the man's words, Chen Xu couldn't help but say: "Have you ever thought that if it really rains, won't all the crops in the fields rot?" ”

"I haven't had even a light rain for most of the year, so how can it rain even now? Don't worry about it, lad. ”

The man thought that Chen Xu wanted to rain and wanted to go crazy, so he didn't pay attention to him anymore after dropping this sentence.

Chen Xu originally wanted to persuade the man to harvest now regardless of whether the crops were ripe or not, but when he saw the man like this, he stopped talking.

According to his observations, the heavy rain will start at most in the evening, and if it is not early today, even if he believes his words, how many crops can he harvest now?

Chen Xu didn't want to get drenched in the rain, so he didn't care about compassion for the heavens and people, so he hurried to the city.

As soon as he arrived at Qiaofu, he met Qiaoyu who was about to go out, and when he saw that he walked out without rain gear, Chen Xu couldn't help but say: "Qiaojun, in my opinion, the heavy rain can fall in an instant, if you don't have anything important, it's better not to go out." ”

Qiao Yu was stunned for a moment, looked at the bright sky, and said in disbelief: "Heavy rain? How is this possible! ”

"If you don't believe it, stay in the house first, and you will see the difference in less than a stick of incense."

Chen Xu saw that Qiao Yu didn't believe it, and he didn't want to watch him get drenched in the rain, so he had to swear and say.

Qiao Yu felt that Chen Xu's daily chatter about what to learn and watch the sky was completely nonsense.

Even if he is blinded by him occasionally, Qiao Yu will not believe it.

Who can guarantee that their predictions will be accurate?

Chen Xu also had this idea at first, but the more he learned, the more he felt that there were rules to follow.

If you learn this knowledge to the extreme, you may even be more accurate than the weather forecasts of later generations.

After all, the weather forecast of later generations is okay to predict short-term weather, but predicting the weather for a week will often be wrong.

Qiao Yu sincerely intersected with Chen Xu, and persuaded bitterly: "Da Lang, you should also learn more about other things, if you are interested in predicting the weather, you can study it in your spare time, these things, after all, it is difficult to get into the hall of elegance." ”

"Qiaojun Meiyi, don't I know? I also know what you are worried about, but although the way of heaven is impermanent, there are rules to follow, and if you seriously understand nature, you can unite heaven and man, and it is not difficult to know the changes of heaven and time. ”

"Believe me once, wait a while, and we'll see if it's raining."

Chen Xu knew that Qiao Yu didn't love military affairs, and he also had a lot of complaints about his immersion in the ethereal 'Heavenly Dao', and in order to make him believe, he did not hesitate to move out of the 'unity of heaven and man' to talk about things.

After listening to Chen Xu's words, Qiao Yu asked with some astonishment: "What you are talking about is 'the unity of heaven and man'?" ”

The saying of 'the unity of heaven and man' came from Zhuangzi, and was later developed by Dong Zhongshu as a philosophical system of thought for the unity of heaven and man.

However, different theories have different interpretations of the 'unity of heaven and man'.

In the view of Confucianism, heaven is the origin of moral concepts and principles, and the human heart is endowed with moral principles, and this unity of heaven and man is a natural, but unconscious, unity.

However, due to the fact that human beings are blinded by all kinds of fame, fortune and desires, they cannot discover the moral principles in their hearts.

The purpose of human cultivation is to get rid of the blindness of external desires, to 'seek reassurance', and to achieve a state of consciously fulfilling moral principles, which is what Confucius called "seventy do what the heart desires without exceeding the rules".

In addition, Zen Buddhism and Taoism have different views on the 'unity of heaven and man', but no matter what kind of doctrine there is, there is some idealism, and there is no perception that Chen Xu said, so it is natural to 'unite heaven and man'.

Regarding the 'unity of heaven and man', Chen Xu also has some ignorance.

Listening to Qiao Yu's tone, Chen Xu felt as if he had said something wrong, his face flushed slightly, and he hurriedly asked Qiao Yu.

Qiao Yu didn't hide his secrets, and told everything he knew.

To put it simply, Confucianism believes that there is morality in human nature; Zen Buddhism believes that there is Buddha nature in human nature; Taoists believe that there is nature in human nature. However, because of all kinds of acquired desires and rules and regulations, people are blinded by morality, Buddha nature, and nature.

Only by not being blinded by external desires and breaking the shackles can people truly and consciously fulfill moral principles; attaining the state of final Buddhahood; Liberate humanity and return it to nature.

Qiao Yu talked for a long time, which made Chen Xu a little dizzy. It seems that Chen Xu has not yet understood, and Qiao Yu is unwilling to explain more, and he is about to leave when he walks out of Qiaofu.

Seeing this, Chen Xu was a little anxious, and when he was thinking about how to leave the bridge, he saw that the raindrops began to fall, becoming more and more urgent, and after a while, it turned into a downpour.

"How so?"

Qiao Yu hurriedly ran back, shook the rain on his body, and looked at Chen Xu incredulously, he didn't expect to be really said by Chen Xu, this sudden rain is not small.

"Ahem, you know now that I'm not lying, right?"

Qiao Yu's surprised appearance greatly satisfied Chen Xu's vanity, but he was a little gloomy when he thought of the people who were about to lose their harvest.

Walking to the door, Chen Xu looked into the distance and said softly: "This heavy rain is likely to last for a long time, I only hope that the places affected by the rain will not be too wide." ”

"Will it rain continuously?"

Qiao Yu didn't think that Chen Xu was talking nonsense this time, and began to worry about the harvest of his manor's fields.

After all, facts speak louder than words. If Chen Xu is blinded to heavy rain now, is it too much of a coincidence? At this time, Qiao Yu became interested in learning Tianshi for the first time.

The heavy rain has been falling continuously for more than half a month, and Qiao Xuan's body is getting worse and worse, and he has far more time in confusion than in his sober time.

Qiao Xuan's eldest son Qiao Yu died early, his younger son was killed by thieves, and his wife also died six years ago. Now there is a bridge mansion in Nuoda, if Chen Xu and Dian Wei didn't move over, only he and Fu Bo would be left.

Qiao Yu still has to take care of his own estate, and there is a drought for a year, and it rains continuously during the harvest season, and he himself is a little anxious now.

Fortunately, Qiao Xuan is not an unreasonable person, and now the servants called from Qiaoyu Manor, Qiao Xuan no longer refuses.

Just now Qiao Xuan woke up once, called Chen Xu over again, and began to get confused without saying much, Chen Xu waited by the bedside, and waited for him to fall asleep before leaving quietly.

On a rainy day, there is nothing to do except study, and even martial arts training cannot be carried out.

Dian Wei was almost suffocated during this time, and he always sat alone in the pavilion in the courtyard in a daze, and occasionally sighed.

Chen Xu came to look for Dian Wei, and suddenly saw that there was a spider building a web on the top of the pavilion, and if you looked closely, there was more than one.

He was overjoyed at the moment, and said to Dian Wei: "Brother, this heavy rain is about to stop!" ”

Spiders are much more sensitive to the weather than humans, and prolonged rains make it impossible for them to hunt, and if they start to form webs in even rainy weather, the rain is about to stop.

Dian Wei's eyes lit up, and he asked with joy, "Is this true?" ”

"Seriously!"

Chen Xu nodded vigorously and said happily.

After receiving an affirmative reply, Dian Wei cheered, and the innocent smile on his face was like that of a child.

Now the people in the bridge mansion all have great trust in Chen Xu's ability to judge the time of day. Since Chen Xu said that the rain would stop, he would definitely stop.

As Chen Xu said, the rain really stopped that night, and Dian Wei was naturally happy to be able to practice martial arts in the courtyard.

Many farmers who did not harvest in the first season, relying on their past savings, did not dare to add clothes in the cold, and could not bear to eat when they were hungry, and finally survived until now.

The heavy rain completely destroyed their last hope of survival.

The heavy rain that lasted for more than half a month not only flooded the crops, but also washed away many people's houses.

In the Han Empire, a larger wave of displaced people began to take shape, and those farmers who had no harvest because of the heavy rains were ragged and homeless, and all that remained on their simple faces was despair.

Many corpses lay in the wild, flies flying wildly.

Although the weather is getting colder in autumn, the corpses will still decompose after a long time, and with no one to bury them, large-scale outbreaks of plague have begun in various places.

For a time, a catastrophe greater than the famine appeared, regardless of age, age, wealth or poverty, and the entire Han Empire fell into fear and turmoil.

After Chen Xu wrote a letter to Chenjia Village, he strongly suggested that the people in Qiaofu hide in Qiaoyu's village.

It was relatively remote and there were few people, so as long as it was well prevented, the plague would not have spread there.

At the same time, many Taiping followers with yellow scarves on their heads, who were not afraid of life and death, chanted the slogan of 'Where is the sky, how innocent are the people', and scattered charms everywhere to save people.

Many desperate homeless people actually saw a glimmer of light in the darkness, and in order to find spiritual sustenance, countless people joined the Taiping Sect.