Chapter 43: Natural disasters and trachees

July of the fourth year of Xiping (175 AD).

In the blue sky, the sun hangs like a huge fireball, and the clouds seem to be burned and disappear without a trace. The scorching sun is like fire, and the earth is like a steamer, so hot that it cannot breathe.

In Xiliang, the Sanfu land, there was a rare drought. There was no decent rain for three consecutive months, and many places had difficulty drinking water. The farmland had long dried up and the crops were seriously damaged. Less than 30% of the previous years, the harvest was not enough to pay the grain tax.

What's even more terrifying is that locusts have appeared in the land of Guansai, and the farmers who have just harvested the crops in the fields have once again embarked on the road to exile.

The Pegasus Ranch is 500 miles wide, a spacious avenue with gravel building foundations and rammed loess through it. A large poplar tree is planted every ten steps on both sides of the road. This avenue takes off from Yingjian to Chaona County in the north, with a total length of more than 500 miles, running across the entire Pegasus Ranch, with a resounding name - Pegasus Avenue.

There are also branches on Pegasus Avenue that are closely connected to Wohuling, Boluogu, Feiyunzhai, various places of military camps and forts, and various places of townships, forming a well-connected transportation network of Pegasus Ranch.

At noon, the hot sun made the road hot, and the delicate poplar trees stood quietly by the road with leaves. There were few pedestrians on Pegasus Avenue, and there were no sounds quietly.

At this time, a group of people rushed from the direction of Feihu Ridge at the southern end. The one running in the front was a red horse. A white tiger as big as a calf bit behind the red horse, as if he wanted to surpass the red horse in front of him, but after working hard several times, he failed and had to give up helplessly. A fiery red lightning marten was jumping around the white tiger, and the red horse was having a lot of fun.

Two golden eagles hovered over the sky. The golden eagle flew too fast than the jujube horse. It drew arcs back and forth in the air, chirping and chirping, as if mocking the jujube horse below, and the white tiger ran too slowly.

There was a young man sitting in the morning blush immediately, wearing a white shirt and a long black hair tied high with a red silk ribbon, and his face was like a silver plate. Fengshen's handsome man, who wasn't Huangfu Jian?

"Young master, run slower, wait for us!" A woman's cry came from behind.

Huangfu Jian tied the reins and the speed of the jujube horse slowly dropped. The white tiger behind him took this opportunity and jumped up, and finally appeared in front of the jujube horse. The moment he surpassed the jujube horse, the white tiger glared at the jujube horse fiercely, and screamed with excitement, and then ran forward wildly.

After a while, a sound of horse hooves came from the earth-shaking sound, and more than a dozen war horses rushed out of the rolling smoke and dust. The one running in front was the old man Zhao Qi, the Princess Jieyou, and the Eighteen Dragon Cavalry followed behind them. They were all dressed in black clothes, and even their mounts were all black, like moving black clouds.

Today they went to inspect the drought conditions in various refugee villages. The three-month drought also had a certain impact on the 500-mile area of ​​Pegasus Ranch. However, due to the special geographical location of Pegasus Ranch, the snow in the foothills of Fanting and Jitou Mountains had just been completely melted, the streams were continuous, and there were channels between the mountains and steep mountains. In addition, many newly built water conservancy fortifications have not had much impact, which made Huangfu Jian feel much more relieved.

Gucheng has two industrial zones, the East District and the West District. The East District is some industries related to people's livelihood, and the West District is all military industry. The various types of buildings in the industrial zone are rigorously arranged, with various avenues crisscrossing and they are divided into areas of different sizes.

There are more than a dozen wineries in the east area. Gucheng's wine is brewed with the spring water on Jitou Mountain. The wine brewed is fragrant and pure, famous and sold to the ancient capital Chang'an. It is one of the important sources of Gucheng's economy.

The factory area that was originally busy is now cold and quiet. Only two of more than a dozen wineries are still producing intermittently, while the others have been suspended. This year, there has been a severe drought that is rare in a century. The grain prices in Guanzhong and Guanxi are hurricane every day, and most of the only grain is in the hands of grain merchants. These unscrupulous merchants took the opportunity to store grain and raise grain prices, and the grain has a priceless market. The city lord's mansion issued an order two months ago to restrict the production of the wine industry. It was just to maintain the business of some big customers, and the two wineries continued to start construction.

Next to this winery that is still in production is a small wine workshop. At this inconspicuous wine workshop, there were five people gathered, Jia Xu, the great military advisor of Pegasus Ranch, two winemakers and two blacksmiths. They were staring at the exit of a unique winemaking equipment with calmness.

The outside was so hot that it was smoke. The temperature inside the workshop was much higher than that outside. It was like a steamer. The five people seemed to have been fished out of the water, and were soaked, but they didn't care.

A stream of hot air flowed out of the bronze pipes, and a strong aroma of wine came out, which was stronger than any time they had seen before. The aroma of wine drifted farther and farther, passing through the small workshop, and to the winery that was still producing.

This winery also happened to be brewing the wine into the cellar. It was the time when the aroma was the strongest. The winemaker smelled the wine and was satisfied with the fragrance of the wine, muttering to himself: "Good wine, another good wine in the cellar."

But at this moment, a strange aroma of wine floated in from outside. The aroma of wine was so clear and rich that it quickly overwhelmed the fragrance of the cellar that was emerging from the house.

The old winemaker sniffed and ran out. Following the fragrance, he quickly found Jia Xu and his small workshop. The old winemaker looked at everything in front of him in a daze, and saw a scent of wine that was flowing out of a pile of strange copper tubes.

"What kind of wine do you brew here? Why are you brewing so clean and so fragrant!" This old winemaker made countless wines, but he had never seen such wine before. He was curious and asked Jia Xu unstoppably.

"Oh, why are you, old boy?" Jia Xu was completely immersed in joy. Unexpectedly, he was rushed in by this old man. He was startled and said sternly: "I will tell you that what you saw today is a major secret from Gucheng. You will never allow it to be leaked, otherwise you will be punished for leaking secrets. Do you understand?"

"Xiaomin knows, it's absolutely confidential!" Old Li was shocked when he heard Jia Xu's words harshly and quickly agreed.

"You four are here and don't let anyone come in. Old Li is also invited to go out, as if you didn't see anything today! I'll go see the young master immediately." Jia Xu ordered everyone, and walked out with the wine that had just been brewed from the wine, and there were already followers waiting there outside.

No matter how fast Jia Xu's carriage was galloping towards the city lord's mansion. Although it was the scorching sun and the scorching heat were hard to bear, Jia Xu didn't realize it at all. His heart was filled with joy now. The task assigned by the young master was finally completed, and the suffering of more than 200 days and nights was not in vain.

Huangfu Jian led everyone to quickly rush to Gucheng through the two passes of the first line of Tiangu Road. No one wanted to expose the sun in such a hot weather, and just wanted to return to the mansion as soon as possible.

"Grandpa Zhao, at the end of last year, I told you to buy all the money in the ranch to buy food. How is it done? How much food is still stored in the valley?" Huangfu Jian practiced the mysterious breathing method of regulating the breathing system is quite magical. Such hot weather did not have much impact on him, and he was still having fun.

"Report to the young master, as the young master ordered, all the property in the ranch was exchanged for grain. Now there is 500,000 stones of grain stored in the valley. It has been enough to eat in the valley for several years. We are not afraid of any major disaster." Old man Zhao Qi is now increasingly impressed by the young man in front of him. Every major decision has magical foresight, which makes people unable to accept it.

At the end of last year, the price of grain was only 400 coins per stone, but now the Chang'an area has risen to more than 1,200 yuan. What is even more worrying is that there is a shortage of grain in various places. Now, Guanzhong and Guanxi are hard to buy food even if they have money. If Huangfu Jian had not made any arrangements, Pegasus Ranch would have been greatly affected this year.

"Five hundred thousand stones of grain are very good, and can be used for 60,000 people for a year. I want to take in another part of the refugees. Grandpa Zhao, what do you think?" Huangfu Jian was very conflicted. Now, there are too many refugees in Guanzhong, Guanxi, and there are refugees carrying children and daughters everywhere. The corpses are everywhere, which is terrible. I want to ignore them, but I can't bear it. If you want to, how can I care?

"What do you plan to do? The summer harvest season has passed. If it rains before the end of September and the drought can be solved, winter crops can be planted. But no matter what, we have to provide refugees with seven or eight months of food. This is a big deal. Please think twice!" Old man Zhao Qi sighed. He also understood the difficulties here.

"I will think carefully and will not trap ourselves." Huangfu Jian shook his head helplessly and said lightly.

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