Spoiling History: Starting From the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 480 Little New Year

The palace in Bianliang fell silent.

This time even Zhao Kuangyin had no energy to say anything, 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...

"Before I get even a porridge or rice, I will burst into tears."

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

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

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."

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."

"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 no more than hiding one's ears and stealing the bell!"

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

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. .

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

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

Even scolding the King of Jin could not make the people of the world produce more than half a stone from their fields, nor could it make him immediately resolve 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.

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?

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 the east wind sweeps across the sky to guard the country's borders, but in the final analysis, we have no idea about the daily life of the people in this future generation.

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

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.

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 one billion livestock, and the territory of later generations is still smaller than that of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. How can it be raised?

The queen 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 a household with this population could taste 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 particularly difficult for Wei Zheng, who was born in Shandong to be a Confucian scholar, to accept the announcement from later generations that this was the most prosperous period in China 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 disgusting and difficult to swallow. Even the holy kings could not 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 speechless immediately, 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 "Busy 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 started in the Xia Dynasty, but the worship of the Kitchen God was quite troublesome at that time. It was done once a month, and later it was simplified to once a quarter. In the Han Dynasty, it simply became once a year, which was more convenient.

The Kitchen God is one of the five family gods. However, the Analects of Confucius records the sigh of Sun Jia, the king of Wei in the Spring and Autumn Period, "Rather than flattering the emperor, I would rather flatter the Kitchen God." It can be seen that at least at that time, the status of the Kitchen God among the five family gods had been significantly improved.

The process of worshiping the Kitchen God that we are familiar with today was formed roughly in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui Dynasty. Sticky things such as sugar melons would be used to sweeten the Kitchen God's mouth, and a straw horse would be tied as the Kitchen God's mount. Burning these two together is to send the Kitchen God to worship the Kitchen God.

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

From the beginning of the worship of the Kitchen God to the days of re-inviting the Kitchen God, the ancients believed that there was no supervision from the Kitchen God at home, and they could eat and drink, gather and play, etc. without worry. This was also the prototype of the ancient New Year celebration.

This custom has been passed down to this day, and the only change is the time of the Little New Year's Kitchen God.

Originally, the time of worshipping the Kitchen God was 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 worshipped the Kitchen God on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month when worshipping all the gods. As a result, the Little New Year's Day in the north became 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 rules, so the tradition of worshipping the Kitchen God on the 24th day of the Little New Year has been preserved to this day. 】

Chapter 482/824
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Spoiling History: Starting From the Three KingdomsCh.482/824 [58.50%]