From Chief to Ball

"Do you always do this?"

"When planting in spring and autumn, the field officials will come to give advice on farming, and they will also come at the end of the weekdays. Jixia said, the more grain we plant, the more taxes Xiacheng will collect, and the better our lives will be. Okay, so this is a big deal, Tian Guan will come even if it rains. You see, people from the surrounding villages are here."

Su He secretly kept in mind the essentials of farming that Tian Guan said, and he believed in Xiacheng's mu yield after being confirmed by several people, so he wanted to bring these things back to Sucheng. The status in the city and the prestige among the tribe will also increase a lot.

Tian Guan's name was very unfamiliar, Su He only found out what Tian Guan did after asking, and he was secretly puzzled. It was the same in Hwaseong 20 years ago. In addition to managing their own tribes, the leaders of each tribe also had to perform their duties in Hwaseong to manage various things of the tribal alliance. Made of silk.

Ordinarily, Xia Chengyuan shouldn't know these things after so many years in the northwest border, but what's weird is that their power structure is somewhat similar to that of the tribal alliance, so Su He is full of curiosity about Chen Jian.

At the first meeting in Changting, if it wasn't for Ji Song pointing from behind, Su He almost didn't recognize Chen Jian. He was just an ordinary young man of sixteen or seventeen years old. His hair was tied up. His body wasn't very strong, but he wasn't weak either, and his eyes were rather bright. For the spirit, but a little jumpy, not calm enough, or too childish.

Looking at the people accompanying him, Su He had already forgotten that Xia Cheng was still outside his relatives. These casual people were all wearing silk robes and hanging jade on their waists. The meaning of the surname and family members of the background.

Chen Jian walked to Su He's side, and after the two parties greeted each other, Chen Jian raised his glass and said, "It's been a long journey, it's been a long journey, let's take a rest."

"Thank you, Ji Xia. The food and drink are all ready, Ji Xia took the trouble."

Su He waved his hand to let the people who came with him rest, they were really tired after walking all the way.

Accompanying Su He, Chen Jian poured a bowl of steamed high-quality wine. Su He was greatly surprised by the alkyd aroma and strong taste of wine. His throat burned all the way to his stomach, and his face turned red in an instant, praising him again and again.

"I've been listening to Ji Song say that Xiacheng is different all the way. Now I see it with my own eyes, and I know that this wine is different from other places. Probably because you are located in the northwest, the wind is cold and the snow is new, and this wine is actually better than ours. It's going to be tough there."

"Strong and sweet are both wines, but the taste is different. Is it possible that the wine in the northwest is water?"

Su He laughed, thinking that Chen Jian's words were very interesting, but he couldn't answer directly, so he covered it up with a smile.

There are not many dishes in the long pavilion, they are all common things in Xiacheng, a plate of tofu, a plate of boiled peas, fish and meat are not lacking, and the taste is spicy after being fried in a copper pot, which makes the millet index finger move.

But when he saw the wooden chopsticks on the table, he was a little surprised, so he quickly covered it up, picked up the chopsticks, and pressed down the wine.

He has seen chopsticks before, and many people use them. However, with the division of the rich and poor on both sides of the river, the etiquette of the chiefs and special people in those cities has gradually increased.

In the beginning, chopsticks were probably because it would burn your hands when cooking meat. After the gap between the rich and the poor appeared, the rich and noble in some cities felt that they wanted to show that they were different from the rest. They began to use jade knives. Utensils such as copper spoons, even chopsticks, are mostly made of jade, or even shiny tin or lead.

Su He's surprise flashed by, seeing that Chen Jian was also using wooden chopsticks, he knew that he was not deliberately neglecting himself, but he said in his heart: "After all, the background is too shallow, but in the city of three years, the utensils used by him as the leader are the same as those of the people. There is still a lack of etiquette."

Chen Jian didn't know that Su He had already despised him as an upstart, so he chatted a few more words, and after eating and drinking, he invited him to go to Xiacheng by car.

The other car was left by Chen Jian to Ji Song. Seeing that everyone was riding in an ox cart, Ji Song repeatedly declined.

"You don't need to refuse. You go out this time, and you are regarded as the eyes of the city, helping the city to see many things that it hadn't seen before. There have been some changes in the city, and the clansmen trust you very much, so they elected you to be a member of the council , this car is fine. Get in the car."

Ji Song sighed and said, "Ji Xia, I only saw a lot of things along the way, but I didn't learn anything. I didn't get the answer I wanted, but I left the city for so long, even though my left hand Crippled, I can still raise the flag and carve arrows when fighting against the tribes of the grassland, I have been away for so long for nothing..."

"What's the matter? As long as the doubts in your heart are solved. Have you seen what you want to see?"

"No."

"That's right. Get in the car, calm down, accept the unchangeable things, and do the things that can be changed. What you think may not be impossible to achieve. If one day you find a medicinal herb, it can make people live Hundreds of years of immortality; if one day you can make the land produce tens of millions of catties of grain... At that time, your worries and doubts will be gone, and maybe you will see the answer you want. So, don't think about it. How to change people's hearts, but to change less labor and more harvest, people's hearts will naturally change."

After a few words of persuasion, I pondered Chen Jian's words in aftertaste. I walked all the way, watched all the way, and tasted something faintly, but what it was, it was just a thought that hadn't sprouted yet, and I couldn't grasp it, but at least Chen Jian Jian pointed out a way for him.

Chen Jian patted Afraid Song's shoulder to encourage and reassure him. He stood on the left side of the car and asked Su He to get on the car.

Su He had heard about chariots in E City, and was amazed by the chariot, but the only thing missing was the personal experience.

Standing on the car, looking at the rutted road by the river bank, he was very happy to feel that he was walking against the wind. Halfway through the journey, he sang a rhyme, probably a folk song of Sucheng.

Chen Jian smiled secretly. It seems that the cultural life of the various tribes on both sides of the river has been very developed, and they naturally understand the rhyme, which shows that their material civilization must not be bad.

While intoxicated, Su He stopped abruptly, and shouted out of style: "Ji Xia, stop the car."

Chen Jian thought that he was in a hurry when riding in a car for the first time, so he asked the imperial hand to stop the car, Su He jumped out of the carriage, ran to the ditch in the distant field and asked: "I heard from the leader of Eyue that Xiacheng built a canal? This is it? "

"Correct."

"Did Ji Xia ever tell E-Strider that flooding and drought in this canal is something that people can't control?"

"Correct."

Su He saw several farmers in the distance irrigating the somewhat dry land with tangerines, and was very excited, ignoring the etiquette, ran to Chen Jianjian and said, "Ji Xia, maybe take me to see this canal? The tribes on both sides of the great river have suffered from floods and droughts for a long time..."

Chapter 78 The first step towards acceptance

Even if Su He didn't mention this request, Chen Jian was going to take him to see a few model projects in Xia City. This was not a Potemkin Village-style show, but a real manifestation of tribal strength.

So I drove to the hillside overlooking the farmland near Xiacheng, got out of the car and walked up the mountain, Suhe's eyes did not move away from the canals along the way, and he was full of admiration.

After reaching the top of the mountain, Su He looked at the square farmland divided by water canals, turned to look at the diversion canals and dams beside the Cao River, and listened to Chen Jian explaining the purpose of those dikes and gates before saying, "So In this way, it can be said that floods and droughts follow people. The south is shallow and the north is deep, when there is a drought, the water flows from the north, and when the sky is flooded, the water flows from the south... Jixia, can this method be used on other rivers?"

Chen Jian frowned and said, "Different rivers have different methods. It's like the thorn rose fruit on the south bank of Caohe River. It doesn't turn red until early October, but it turns red on the north bank at the end of September. You want to go to the south bank to find it at the end of September. The red thorn rose fruit cannot be found."

Xiacheng's water conservancy project is difficult to replicate because of the natural existence of Luodao, which saves a lot of engineering work by the tribe.

And the most important point is that the Caohe River is not a big river, probably because it is far away from the sea, and the rainfall is not as scary and concentrated. , almost no traces of siltation.

The real floods and droughts are still very early, and Chen Jian just took advantage of the natural environment.

After hearing Chen Jian's words, Su He sighed in disappointment, stared blankly at the canals, and suddenly asked, "Ji Xia, have you heard Hua's story before?"

"I heard about it from the leader of Eyue."

"There are many relatives on both sides of the river, but there are two threats that must be faced. One is the Yidi around. Elected to be the leader."

"After he became the leader, he once said that the tribe had two enemies, one was the barbarians all around, and the other was the floods and droughts of the great river. In the end, he also died in the hands of the second enemy."

"Flood control requires the concentration of the tribe's manpower, and even the unity of several tribes. When a tribe faces floods and droughts, its power is weak, like leaves in the wind, unable to stop the wind. On both sides of the river, we need A true leader, leading his relatives to defeat barbarians and diners around him, and to manage floods and droughts in great rivers."

"The big river is much wider and more turbulent than your Caohe River. A tribe with thousands of people may be able to control the Caohe River, but ten tribes with tens of thousands of people may not be able to. If you don't stand together, bring the population of the tribe together. , that won't work."

Chen Jian nodded, agreeing with Su He's idea, in fact, he wanted more.

Sometimes the geographical environment will affect the history of entering the city, and it will also affect the formation of the nation.

For example, the Americas in the previous life, because of the terrain of the basin plain between the east and west mountains, are destined to have huge winds during the monsoon season, like a draft between the basin and plain, the meager agricultural foundation cannot resist such wind disasters, and the surface soil after reclamation is also Will be blown away by the wind, unable to accumulate enough to develop the agricultural base of the empire.

After all, planting agriculture has developed, and there is a large amount of surplus products. When it is ready to evolve from a tribe to a country, a strong wind will destroy everything and start from scratch.

This progressive process is long, and it may also accumulate enough to the stage where the empire appears, but factors such as the lack of alien races, no common security needs, and the accumulation time being too long lead to rigid thinking have led to a longer transition.

After the emergence of mechanization, it became a fertile soil and a land of grain production; but before the emergence of mechanization, it could not be accumulated to the extent that mechanization could occur, which is a very interesting paradox.

However, if the terrain is high on one side and low on the other side with large rivers flowing through it, it is easy to form an empire, because only by uniting can we control the water and resist the alien races in the plateau and grassland.

The evolution from the tribal deliberative system to the imperial system has also been greatly shortened due to the terrain. Flood control requires the unified deployment of various tribes, and after the unified deployment, each tribe will gradually accept the form of overall leadership, shortening the transition from tribal democracy to hereditary The transformation of the monarchy.

Change needs an opportunity, and the change of mind and way of thinking is the ultimate goal of change and the biggest factor to ensure that people will not die.