Three Kingdoms: A Million Soldiers Grown from the Fields

Chapter 127 Enlightenment Cottage (Please read 4k words)

On the alluvial plain of the Hutuo River, the last tens of thousands of acres of wasteland were gradually reclaimed.

"Clang—clang—"

The crisp sound of cowbells rose and fell across the open fields, creating a melodious chorus.

Three hundred government-owned oxen, adorned with red ribbons, moved forward steadily and powerfully, like solid rocks scattered across the brown earth, pulled by the skilled drivers of the farmers, pulling brand-new curved plows.

The sharp iron plowshare cut deep into the hardened soil, like a sharp knife slicing through solidified grease.

The moist, fertile black soil was easily turned over, forming straight, deep, and even lines that exuded a rich earthy fragrance.

Wherever the plow passes, grass roots are severed and hard clumps are crushed, making it far more efficient than human labor.

Zhao Tian held the plow tip, requiring almost no effort to guide it; he only needed to adjust the direction according to the steady pace of the strong ox.

He looked at the rapidly stretching, cultivated land behind him like a giant black ribbon, and his weathered face showed an unprecedented ease and satisfaction. Sweat still flowed, but it was the sweat of hopeful labor.

"Dad! Look over here!" Zhao Zhu shouted excitedly from a short distance away.

He was driving another ox, pulling a heavy wooden rake back and forth across the freshly turned land.

Huge clods of earth crumbled under the rake teeth, and the soft soil was combed out like fine sand, even and flat, just the right time for sowing.

"Good lad! You've raked it evenly!" Zhao Tian praised loudly, his voice full of energy.

He wiped his sweat and sighed to his old partner who was also holding a plow beside him: "The magistrate's ox rental... has saved so many lives! In the past, clearing land was exhausting! Look at us now, with oxen and plows, even our old bones can be of great use!"

"Indeed!" The old man grinned, revealing a gap in his missing front tooth. "This newly reclaimed land is so fertile! It's a joy to look at! This year, our land magistrate paid our land tax. Although it's only 70/30, after the harvest, the money for our sons' weddings should be more than enough!"

"Hahaha, that's right, it's about time I, Zhuzi, got married," Zhao Tian replied with a hearty laugh.

The common people don't have high aspirations; their only expectation in life is to have many descendants and enough food for their family.

"Old Zhao, the magistrate said that after the feeding ceremony, the newly built thatched cottage will be used to teach us peasants who toil in the fields. Are you going?"

"Go? Of course I'll go! Even if I don't understand, I still need to support the magistrate. Besides, it'll be good to keep an eye on the pillar. This old man can't learn much, but I must be eager to learn!"

"That makes sense! Come on, let's work harder and finish these last few acres before we go return the cattle."

"start!"

After chatting for a while, the two old farmers took a break and began clearing land once again.

Looking back, the vast Xintiandi was filled with figures.
-
In the east of Luqi City, several newly built thatched cottages stand quietly in the warm breeze of late spring.

The children's innocent recitation of "Heaven and Earth, Black and Yellow" during the day has ceased. Now, torches are lit in the thatched cottage, and the dim, flickering light elongates the shadows of the farmers crowded in the room, casting them onto the rough mud walls, swaying like shadow puppets.

The air was filled with the smells of sweat, the stench of earth, the acrid smell of burning pine resin, and a new, slightly tense atmosphere.

Standing on the platform were several young men selected by Gu Yu from among the county clerks. The leader was named Chen Ming, who was originally just a minor clerk copying documents, but now he was shouldering the important task of "enlightening and enlightening" people. His forehead was slightly sweaty.

Behind him, on the earthen wall, hung several newly made wooden boards, one of which had clearly written in charcoal:

Next to “one, two, three…ten”, the corresponding Chinese characters are marked in small print: 壹, 贰, 叁…拾.

On another board are large traditional Chinese characters written in regular script.

"Field", "Mu", "Cattle", "Grain"

"Han", "Min", "Zhang"

"Fellow villagers!" Chen Mingqing cleared his throat, trying to drown out the chirping of insects outside the window: "Today, we will not only learn to read, but also to count! This is a rule personally set by the magistrate, who said that 'counting' is just as important as 'reading,' as it concerns our livelihood!"

A buzz of discussion immediately arose from the audience.

People can understand recognizing tangible things like "fields," "cattle," and "grain," but what about "numbers"? Isn't that just counting? What child can't count to ten?

Zhao Tian, ​​sitting in the corner of the front row, also frowned in confusion, his rough fingers unconsciously rubbing the mud spots on the corner of his clothes.

Chen Ming seemed to have anticipated the crowd's reaction. He picked up a thin wooden stick (in place of a pointer) and pointed to the row of conspicuous Arabic numerals: "His Excellency said that this is the 'arithmetic symbol,' which is much simpler than the counting rods and Chinese numerals we are used to. Please take a look."

He picked up a rough yellow clay slab, drew a "1" on it with a sharpened wooden stick, and wrote the Chinese character "壹" next to it.

"This '1' is pronounced 'yī' and represents something, such as a cow or a person."

He then wrote down "2" and "贰".

"This '2' is pronounced 'er' and represents two cows or two people. And so on, all the way up to '10', which is pronounced 'shi'!"

"Huh? This thing, all twisted and turning like a worm crawling, can be counted as 'one' or 'two'?" a man couldn't help but mutter.

Chen Ming did not rebuke him, but instead nodded: "At first glance it seems strange! But the magistrate said that this talisman has endless uses! Everyone, please take a look!" He put down the clay slab, picked up a few prepared small wooden sticks and a handful of dried beans.

"Old Zhao!" Chen Ming suddenly called out, "How many acres of newly reclaimed land do you have? How many hours did it take for the official ox to be used?"

Zhao Tian was taken aback, then quickly stood up and answered somewhat awkwardly, "Replying to your question, sir, my family has recently reclaimed... um, three and a half mu of land! We used government oxen... it took... two hours and a half quarters?"

Chen Ming smiled and said, "Alright! Please take a look, sir."

He quickly wrote "3.5 mu" on the clay tablet, and then wrote "2.25 shichen" next to it.

"This is the amount of your newly reclaimed land and the time for using the ox! Isn't it much clearer to remember this using this talisman than just muttering 'three and a half acres' or 'two hours and a half quarters'?"

Zhao Tian leaned closer to examine the "3.5" and "2.25" more closely. Although he didn't recognize the dot, the shapes of the numbers corresponded to the Chinese characters next to them, and it seemed... clearer than if he had memorized them in his mind.
He nodded blankly.

“Remembering is the first step!” Chen Ming raised his voice: “Even more important is calculation! The magistrate said that in the future, the county government will distribute grain, calculate taxes, and assign work points. Even your own buying and selling will depend on this ‘calculation’!”

He picked up a few beans and placed them on the table in front of Zhao Tian: "Suppose the county government rewards people based on the number of acres of land reclaimed, with one dou of millet for each acre."

"Old man, you've cleared three and a half acres of wasteland, how many bushels of millet should you get?"

Zhao Tian subconsciously counted on his fingers: "One mu is one dou, three mu is three dou, half a mu... half a dou? Three and a half dou?"

He looked at Chen Ming with some uncertainty.

“Correct!” Chen Ming affirmed, and then wrote the equation on the clay tablet: 3.5 mu × 1 dou/mu = 3.5 dou.

He pointed to "3.5" and "1", and then to the "×" and the equal sign "=" in the middle.

"Look, with these abacuses, it's crystal clear! Three and a half mu multiplied by one dou per mu equals three and a half dou! Isn't that faster than counting on your fingers? Faster than using counting rods?"

As Zhao Tian looked at the simple symbols and clear equations, a glimmer of light flashed in his cloudy eyes!
He's farmed all his life, and what he hates most is calculating these trivial details!
Every time he dealt with grain merchants, or when the village head came to calculate taxes, the sight of those counting rods swaying back and forth made him dizzy and disoriented; he always felt like he was being fooled. But these crooked symbols before him, paired with the words "multiply" and "equal to," were actually… starting to make sense?!
Chen Ming pressed his advantage: "This is just simple multiplication! Your Excellency will compose a song using the Nine Chapters of the Dao, 'The Nine-Nine Song,' everyone repeat after me!"

He turned around and pointed with the wooden stick at the newly pasted "Nine-Nine Rhyme" written in large charcoal on the wall.

One-one-one
One times two equals two, two times two equals four.
One times three equals three, two times three equals six, three times three equals nine.

……

One times nine equals nine, two times nine equals eighteen, ... nine times nine equals eighty-one.
"Come on, repeat after me! One times one equals one!"

Inside the thatched cottage, a cacophony of voices, thick with local accents yet utterly earnest, echoed as they recited: "One by one equals one!"

"One times two equals two!"

"One times two equals two!"

……

When the phrase "three times three equals nine" was recited, a young man next to Zhao Tian suddenly slapped his thigh.

"Oh! I know! My three brothers each cultivate three-tenths of an acre a day, so in three days that's nine-tenths! Isn't that 'three times three equals nine'? There's no need to count on your fingers to figure out what three times three equals! It just comes out off the top of your head!"

This cry of sudden realization exploded through the thatched cottage like a drop of boiling oil! The farmers, who had initially been skeptical of the "insect crawling" numbers and the "rhyme," suddenly changed their expressions! They began to chatter amongst themselves, making connections...

“That ‘four times five equals twenty’! Four households share one ox, and each household works for five hours, which is a total of twenty hours! That makes sense!”

"'Six times six equals thirty-six'! If six liters of millet are sown on one mu of land, then six mu of land will yield thirty-six liters! Not a penny off!"

"Nine times nine equals eighty-one! One shi of grain is sixty jin, so nine shi of grain is...?"
Um... I'll have to count on my fingers for that..."

The clumsy associations and simple applications allowed these farmers, who had worked with the land for generations, to truly feel the power of "numbers" for the first time!

It is no longer a mysterious counting rod game in the hands of accountants and village heads, nor is it a vague "approximately" or "more or less". Instead, it is a powerful tool that can accurately and clearly calculate one's own land, food rations, and working hours!

Looking at the faces of the students below the stage, flushed with excitement and sudden realization, Chen Ming felt a surge of emotion within him.

He recalled Zhang Xian's private words to him: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Let them learn to read, understand principles, and know numbers, so that they can at least know how much they have gained in their small way."

Many years ago, my own family was in the same situation. Every year, after all that hard work, I couldn't even tell how much was actually for my own family. If I hadn't been luckier than others and become a minor official, I might not have been able to... Sigh.
Chen Ming sighed inwardly, shook his head, and focused all his energy on teaching.

The writing practice session has begun.

The farmers' hands, still clumsy and trembling, held the charcoal sticks or brushes, but their eyes were more intense and focused than when they were learning to read.

A small sand table serves as a textbook; although inconvenient, it is the best option for beginners.

Zhao Tian didn't immediately write "field" and "ox". Instead, he focused on the grid he had drawn on the sand table and used all his strength to control the unruly wooden stick.

Trembling, yet with unwavering determination, he first wrote down a crooked "3" that almost filled the entire grid.

Then, he carefully drew a small dot next to it and wrote a "5".

After writing "3.5", he let out a long sigh of relief, as if he had completed a sacred ritual.

He looked at the string of symbols on the sand table, made up of "crawlers," representing his three and a half acres of land and the three and a half bushels of millet he was entitled to as a reward. He grinned and smiled silently, his smile filled with an unprecedented sense of security and a glimmer of control over his destiny.

Under the dim light, the rustling of sand table grinding, the creaking of wooden sticks, and the suppressed gasps of farmers as they wrote down a number or equation correctly all mingled together.
-
The next morning, in the back hall of the Lüchi County government office.

Zhang Xiangan had just finished breakfast and was reading through several volumes of bamboo slips by the open window in the dim morning light.

"My lord." Han Ji's voice rang out at the door. His robe was stained with a few fresh specks of mud, indicating that he had just returned from outside the city.

“You’ve arrived, have a seat.” Zhang Xian put down the bamboo slips, a smile playing on his lips. “Judging from your expression, you must have good news.”

Han Ji sat down, took out a newly made gray-white paper book from his sleeve, and said with a smile, "My lord's prediction was correct! Both major matters have made gratifying progress!"

"Oh? Tell me about it." Zhang Xian took the book but did not open it immediately.

Han Ji's voice became louder: "The last 10,000 mu of barren land on the Hutuo River alluvial plain was completely cultivated yesterday evening! Hundreds of government oxen took turns working, and the farmers worked day and night, managing to overcome this tough challenge before the Grain Rain solar term! Now, the fertile soil is newly turned over and ready for planting!"

He pointed to the register: "A total of 21,300 mu of newly reclaimed wasteland, together with the previously reclaimed land, will add 25,000 mu of fertile land!"
The village chiefs are now organizing manpower to quickly harrow and prepare the fields, striving to sow the millet and bean seeds within ten days!

A glint of light flashed in Zhang Xian's eyes, and he clapped his hands in praise, "Excellent! Your command is superb!"

"You flatter me, my lord." Han Ji nodded, his smile deepening.

"In addition, there is the matter of 'elementary education' and 'night school' literacy, which is of great importance to our lord."

He paused for a moment: "Last night, several thatched cottages in the east of the city were brightly lit! I went to see them myself, and they were packed to capacity! The hands that hold plows and hoes during the day can hold charcoal sticks and wooden pens at night."

"."

Zhang Xian listened quietly, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the table.

Han Ji's description was even better than he had expected.

"Good, very good!"

A genuine smile finally appeared on Zhang Xian's face, a smile that carried the kind of relief that only a time traveler could feel upon seeing a seed sprout from the soil.

"Chen Ming and the others have made contributions and should be rewarded! Tell them that the key to teaching methods lies in practicality and perseverance. Even the basic education of children during the day should incorporate these 'numerical characters' and 'rhymes,' as this is the foundation for their future!"

He stood up, walked to the window, and looked into the distance. Through the layers of buildings, he seemed to see the newly turned black soil, glistening in the morning light, stretching for thousands of acres in the direction of the Hutuo River. He also seemed to hear the rustling of writing and the deep recitation from the thatched cottage last night.

"The paper that has been stored up in the paper mill for so long should be used up, sir."

"My lord,"

“Let’s compile books, compile books with paper, make textbooks with paper. Now, we also have the power to protect these papers.”

"Your humble servant will make the arrangements immediately."

Han Ji rose solemnly and said, "My lord's insight is profound! I will do my utmost to oversee these two important matters! May these ten thousand acres of new fields yield golden millet and wheat, and may the lights of this thatched cottage illuminate the minds of more people in Luqi!"

".Um."

Zhang Xian exhaled a long breath, his gaze still fixed on the view outside the window.

Hu people Xianbei
Once things stabilize a bit more, it will be your turn to deal with me!
　I got off work too late yesterday, so I'm sorry I missed the extra update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)