Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 480 Young Years

The palace in Bianliang fell silent.

Even Zhao Kuangyin had no energy to say anything this time, and Zhao Pu, who had been prime minister for a long time before, also lowered his head.

Only Zhao Guangyi's eyes kept carefully wandering back and forth between the light screen and his brother's face.

In fact, Zhao Kuangyin was very clear about such accusations against the light curtain.

For example, it is a fact that there were far more exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes than in the Han and Tang Dynasties.

This extra miscellaneous tax can be regarded as a legacy of history. Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the feudal towns have been separated and fought endlessly.

Everyone knows that only those with strong soldiers and horses can be called the emperor, and if you want to have strong soldiers and horses, you need a lot of money and food. This part of the demand is directly transferred to the people, resulting in heavier and heavier taxes.

Since the beginning of the Song Dynasty, because the world had not yet been unified, there were eager enemies in the north and south. Therefore, these exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes that had existed since the end of the Tang Dynasty were not abolished by Zhao Kuangyin, but were inherited together.

Naturally, he had secretly made up his mind to live with the people after the world was unified, but...

"If you don't get a piece of porridge or rice, you will burst into tears."

Even scolding the King of Jin could not make the common people in the world produce half a stone more from their fields, nor could it make him immediately make up his mind to impose excessive taxes and levies in the Song Dynasty - after all, the world was still uncertain, and the financial expenses of the imperial army still could not be reduced by one iota.

But even so, he knew even more clearly that the act of venting his anger on his brother at this time was similar to the self-deception he just said.

"As the King of Jin, do you know how to govern the people in this way?"

Zhao Kuangyin spoke to himself slowly, then shook his head and said nothing.

Perhaps it was because he had been ridiculed by his younger generation for bullying orphans and widowed mothers, or perhaps because the look in his younger brother's eyes was too easy to guess, and this suggestion was quite useless, so Zhao Kuangyin simply said nothing to his younger brother with a gun and a stick. .

In fact, Li Shimin has never been very clear about the people's livelihood in future generations.

Regarding this future generation, although we know that they can climb into the sky to peer into the universe, enter the sea to explore the depths, aircraft carriers fly across the sea and frighten pirates, and east winds sweep through the sky to defend the country's borders, but in the final analysis, we have no idea what the daily life of the people in this future generation will be like.

When I was upset, I first remembered the two names that had appeared on the light screen:

If Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty and Marquis Zhuge Wu were here, would they have a perfect solution?

……

Previously, when they were having dinner and chatting with Guanyin in the harem, the two of them had raised chopsticks and discussed such issues.

Zhao Kuangyin suddenly felt impatient:

"There are three hundred and sixty-five days in a year, which means you need 700 meals to live a good life."

Zhao Guangyi took advantage of the situation and persuaded:

"In this case, the government can order temples all over the world to serve Laba porridge in the name of the government, so that all living people can appreciate the government's heavenly grace."

"Just giving a cup of porridge is like using a glass of water to save a house's fire. It does nothing to help the situation and deceives oneself and others. It is like hiding one's ears and stealing the bell!"

“After working for a year, all I can hope for is a bowl of mixed fruit porridge.”

Perhaps it was because the descendants' sporadic remarks about women made Empress Changsun very fond of her, so she thought that most of the descendants would be able to have livestock and enough food for every household.

At this point, Zhao Kuangyin's mood improved a little.

Li Shimin sneered at this - he clearly remembered that there would be a population of 1.4 billion in this future generation.

Even if a household only has one pig and one sheep, with such a huge population base, it is nearly a billion livestock, and the territory of later generations is still smaller than that of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, how can it be raised?

The empress had lived in the palace for a long time, so she didn't know that Li Shimin had led the army so many times that she couldn't remember it. She also knew that the number of people was so large that it was unimaginable. Moreover, what will future generations do to protect the environment and return farmland to forests?

Therefore, Li Shimin felt that if such a population could make the people of a household know the taste of meat once a month, it would be considered a prosperous era of great rule, and it would be enough to demonstrate the power of science.

It's just that I didn't expect that a casual conversation would reveal the outcome of a casual conversation at this time.

Queen Changsun's eyes were full of smiles, she looked at Li Shimin and said with a smile:

"Does Your Majesty now know what is meant by a prosperous age that will last for five thousand years?"

However, compared to the private discussions between the emperor and the queen, Wei Zhengcai can be said to be enlightening.

Although not all Confucian scholars in the world are corrupt Confucian scholars from Qi, admiring the ancients and respecting etiquette are basically indispensable. Every time they give advice, they must mention the rule of the Three Emperors, and every time they feel sad, they must hope for the great unity of the Five Emperors.

Therefore, it is especially difficult for Wei Zheng, who was born in Shandong to be a Confucian, to accept the announcement from later generations of Dala La that China was the most prosperous in the past five thousand years.

But from a selfish point of view, Wei Zheng also understood that what this junior said was the truth.

After all, no matter how much he admired the past, he knew that the iron farm tools of the Tang Dynasty were not available during the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. The porridge made of dozens of kinds of grains and fruits that later generations lamented was still unpalatable and difficult to swallow, even if the saint king heard about it, he would not be able to imagine it.

The dogma that he had been loyal to before was suddenly shattered by the undoubted facts. Wei Zheng suddenly looked at a loss and murmured to himself:

"Is it possible that since the Zhou Dynasty, the new dynasty has always defeated the old dynasty?"

"That's not necessarily the case..."

Du Ruhui said quietly:

"After all, the Song Dynasty was especially weak after the Tang Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty was closed off to the country."

Wei Zheng was suddenly speechless, and his head became increasingly confused.

[Looking at it now, because Laba is too far away from the New Year, the festive atmosphere is indeed gradually fading.

Generally speaking, whether it is the widely sung "Business New Year Song" of "Twenty-three, sticky melons, twenty-four, sweep the house..." or the folk customs in the north and south, people are more accustomed to treating the New Year as the New Year. as the beginning of this entire festival.

The ceremony of this small year is, more precisely, to worship the Kitchen God.

This is also a long-standing custom. It first started in the Xia Dynasty. However, it was quite troublesome to hold sacrifices to the stove at that time. It was once a month. Later it was simplified to once a quarter. In the Han Dynasty, it became more trouble-free. Once a year.

The Kitchen God is one of the five family gods. However, the Analects of Confucius records that Sun Jia, the king of Wei in the Spring and Autumn Period, lamented that "instead of being charming to O, I would rather be charming to the stove." It can be seen that at least at that time, the status of the Kitchen God among the five family gods was already becoming more prominent. promote.

The process of worshiping the Kitchen God that we are familiar with today was probably formed in the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Sui Dynasty. Sticky objects such as sugar melons were used to sweeten the Kitchen God's mouth, and straw horses were also tied up as the Kitchen God's mounts. Burning the two together was a gift to the Kitchen God. It's called a sacrifice to the stove.

And wait until the first day of the new year to put the new portrait of the Kitchen God on the stove, which is to invite the stove.

In the few days from the beginning of offering sacrifices to the stove to the time when the stove god is invited again, the ancients believed that without the supervision of the stove god in the home, one could safely overeat, gather in groups to play, etc. This was also the prototype of ancient Chinese New Year celebrations.

This custom has been passed down to this day, and the only thing that has changed is the time for offering sacrifices to the stove in the New Year.

Initially, the time to worship the Kitchen God was on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month. However, starting from the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, in order to save trouble, the royal family simply worshiped the Kitchen God on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month together with the Kitchen God on the next day. , the Little New Year time in the north becomes the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month.

At that time, the south was far away from the political center and did not need this set of ups and downs, so the tradition of worshiping the stove on the 24th small year has been preserved to this day. 】

(End of this chapter)