Exile at the beginning: I rule the world by drawing cards

Chapter 3 Sanjiang Village

The convoy bumped along the way and finally arrived in Yongzhou before dawn.

Yongzhou has been rainy and miasma all year round. It rained heavily last night, and a thick layer of fog lingered in the mountains and fields.The team bypassed the town and continued south. When they arrived at Sanhe Village, it was almost noon.

The official opened the straw mat and shouted to Qin Meng Shang: "Why don't you get up quickly?"

The light suddenly appeared, almost piercing Qin Mengshang's eyes. When she saw the scene in front of her clearly, she was shocked.

A piece of flat land is split between the majestic green mountains. Small adobe houses are sparsely lined up together. Dozens of villagers, men, women and children, gather under the old locust tree. Their eyes are either inquiring or joking. A gust of wind blows, and the women's small comments fall. into the ear——

"Why are there new people here again? They look quite young. Why are they exiled to us?"

"Who comes to our village without any crime? Mr. Su is so knowledgeable, why hasn't he been relegated to a remote corner of the countryside?"

"The Su family didn't look so grand when they came! You didn't see that man, he was stained with blood! I'm afraid he might have committed some serious murder-"

"What's the noise! ​​Be quiet!"

The officer standing in front shouted angrily, and several women were so frightened that they immediately fell silent.

Qin Mengshang looked at the cart next to him. The prince was still unconscious and his face was pale. The blood-stained clothes from yesterday had been changed, but some blood had leaked out from the injury on his shoulder due to the bumpy mountain road.

After Commander Wang and Li Zheng finished talking, he walked up to Qin Meng Shang and said, "This is Sanjiang Village. The village will arrange your residence. According to Dajin law, exiled men must perform hard labor. The specific details are, Chen Lizheng will tell you."

Chen Lizheng, who was standing in the distance, smiled at Qin Mengshang. The folds on his face were piled together like dry tree bark.

Qin Mengshang glanced at the prince, frowned and said, "Is he going to go like this?"

Commander Wang sneered coldly: "For those who are exiled, one person from each household must serve. If they do not obey, I will have no choice but to deal with them according to the law."

The implication is that the prince cannot go, so you have to go.

Qin Mengshang didn't ask any more questions.

The book doesn't mention much about the prince's life in the penal colony. It only says that he stayed in Yongzhou for five years. The details of how he spent these five years are not mentioned at all.

Since ancient times, exile has been a heavy punishment. Although life is still there, the journey to exile is long and difficult. It is lucky to be able to reach the place of exile alive.

The prince was assassinated last night and was seriously injured. I don't know how he managed to survive alone.

After the explanation, Commander Wang left Sanjiang Village with his people.

As soon as the government officials left, the quiet crowd immediately became noisy. Several men leaned under the locust tree and looked at Qin Mengshang maliciously:
"It's really cruel to let such a fair little lady work hard on the river bank. Look at the one with a thin waist, even more attractive than Widow Zhang. If she begs me, I will be kind enough to help her."

"Don't tell me, this little lady is much more handsome than that girl from the Su family."

"Hey, how dare you touch the prisoners sent by Commander Wang himself? Besides, the man is still lying there!"

"Not everyone can stay in Yongzhou. I don't think that man will live long. I guess there will be a second Widow Zhang in our village."

"OK OK!"

Chen Lizheng squeezed through the crowd, dispersed them, and said to Qin Mengshang: "It's getting late. I'll take you to see the house first. After all the work is done, come to my place to register and settle down."

Qin Mengshang calmed down and thanked Li Zheng.

While Chen Li was there, the villagers watching the excitement dispersed one after another and called a few men to help push the unconscious prince back.

Sanjiang Village is not big, with only 57 households. Including Qin Meng Shang and the prince, there are only about [-] people.According to Chen Lizheng, this place was originally a temporary residence built by the government for workers building flood control embankments.One year there was a famine in the north, and many refugees fled here to take refuge. Since their original homes had long been looted by other refugees, they simply settled here.In addition, Lingnan has been a place of exile since ancient times, and many officials were often demoted here. As the number of people in the village increased, the county magistrate separated the place separately and became today's Sanjiang Village.

The village has a mixed population. The well-educated people have land and make a living by farming. Occasionally they go to the town to do odd jobs to supplement their family income.

The exiled people had no land and could only work hard on the embankment of the upper reaches of the Xunjiang River for twenty coins a day, barely supporting their families.If you want to grow your own food, you need to pay to buy land from the village.

Qin Mengshang looked at the green rice fields and asked Chen Lizheng: "Uncle Li Zheng, are the late rice grown in that field?"

It's June now, and if they were planted in spring, they should be heading.

"Do you know rice?" Chen Lizheng felt curious. "The rice was planted when the locust flowers were blooming. It rained a lot this year and the fields were seriously stagnant. I guess it will take another ten and a half days for the rice to be ready." It will ear.”

Droughts were common in the north. At that time, we prayed for rain every day for fear that the rice would not be able to drink enough water. Later, when we arrived in Yongzhou, there was too much rain. In the first few years we did not understand the laws of climate, so a large area of ​​rice was flooded, and in the end there was no harvest.

Qin Mengshang thought for a while and said, "Just dig a few ditches in the fields to drain the water out."

"The method you mentioned has been tried in the village a long time ago, but it didn't work!" Chen Lizheng did not take it seriously and continued, "I heard from Commander Wang that you are from Fengjing? People who live there are afraid that they will suffer from it for the rest of their lives. I’ve never seen food growing in the ground. There are so many ways to do farming! You can’t learn it from books.”

Qin Mengshang has been farming for several years in school. How could he not know that farming is a science?
The ditch she was talking about was not dug beside the paddy field, but between two clusters of rice seedlings. In this way, all the rainwater would accumulate in the ditch, and the rice would naturally not be flooded.

But if she said it in her current capacity, no one would believe it. It would be nice if she could experiment it herself.

"It's here, it's here."

Chen Lizheng's voice brought her back to her thoughts.

Qin Mengshang couldn't help but twitching when he saw the dilapidated and desolate thatched house in front of him.

The thatched house stood alone at the end of the village. The yard was overgrown with weeds. When the wind blew, the thatch on the roof floated, and the weeds on the ground began to float as well.

The crumbling wood door made a "squeaking" sound from time to time, as if it would fall off the door frame with just a light touch.

Chen Lizheng said: "This was originally the residence of Zhao Orion. Later, his mother-in-law ran away with someone. He killed the concubine in a rage and was arrested by the government. But that was more than 20 years ago. This house is clean. Still waiting."

"There were two empty houses in the village. Mr. Su's family came first and picked them out for them. If you had come a few months earlier, maybe you wouldn't have to live here."

"However, the place in Su's house is not as big as yours. Look, with such a big yard, how great would it be to use it to grow some vegetables?"

Qin Mengshang didn't know whether to cry or laugh for a moment. The yard was quite big, and when he looked around, it was all grass.

But since she was already an exile, she seemed to have no reason to choose. She sighed silently and said, "As long as there are people to live in."

"Sure, then I won't delay you in cleaning up."

Chen Lizheng had just taken two steps when he suddenly remembered that there was something he had not explained, so he turned back: "Commander Wang Cai also said just now that every household in the village who was exiled must send at least one person to work on the river embankment. Now that Xiao Zhou is unconscious, he just You can take the lead."

"Don't worry, you don't need to move rocks. Your aunt has taken over the job of cooking at the construction site. Just go and help with the cooking. The wages are low, ten cents a day, and you will be in charge of the food."

Ten Wen.

In the memory of the original person, all the gifts he gave to others were silver ingots, and at last they were broken pieces of silver. He probably didn't even know what a copper plate looked like.

Qin Mengshang felt miserable, why did all the bad things happen to her?
But the good thing is - taking care of the food.

These days, it is lucky to be alive, and happy to be able to eat.

(End of this chapter)