Chapter 34 Chapter Thirty-Two

"A descendant of Jiang Guo's 'Three Craftsmen and Concubines'?" Li Qichen interjected. Wu Jie pursed her lips, with tears in her eyes, turned around, lowered her head, and continued to pull the cart. There were tears on the soil under her feet, dripping down with her bare feet. Yan Wei felt pity in her heart, but she didn't know the cause and effect at all, so she asked in a low voice, "What's going on?" Li Qichen said: "That should have happened a year before you were born... At that time, our country was in full swing with Jiang Guo, and Jiang Guo lost to our country, and wanted to send three hundred concubines to seek peace. And our country is also at this time In a calamity year, floods raged in the country, and at that time the two sons of the king...the fourth son and the sixth son...died one after another, the king decided to withdraw the army based on the fortune teller, so he agreed to Jiang Guo's request for peace, and accepted Take those three hundred concubines."

Yan Wei asked: "Then what does 'three craftsmen and concubines' mean?" Gongzi Cong said: "This is a misunderstanding caused by the different customs between our country and Jiang country. At that time, only a hundred dyers, a hundred weavers, and a hundred embroiderers were said to be negotiating peace. These three craftsmen are women in our country. Usually, peace is negotiated. Women's jade and silk are faith, so it is called "three hundred concubines" in official books. Unexpectedly, in Jiangguo, dyers are all men, weavers are evenly divided between men and women, only embroidery workers are all women, so these three hundred people Among them, there are half men and half women. Although the word "concubine slave" can also refer to male and female slaves, the word "three craftsmen" was added at the end of the official book, and it is commonly known as "three craftsmen and concubine slaves."

Yan Wei wondered: "Slaves who negotiate peace, shouldn't they stay in the Forbidden Garden? How could they go to the people?" Li Qichen said: "Originally they stayed at the weaving office of Shanglinyuan, but in the new year, these concubines took advantage of the king's field hunting and when the guards were lax, they rioted..." Yan Wei sighed: "Why do you want to do this? The slaves who negotiate peace represent the trust of a country, and they should be peaceful and peaceful. Isn't it untrustworthy and unjust to cause trouble like this?" Li Qichen shook his head and said, "I don't know..." He looked at Gongzi Cong with a questioning look, and Gongzi Cong shook his head slightly.

"But I know!" Wu Jie continued to pull the cart without turning his head, but his voice came clearly. "Oh? Tell me." Gongzi Cong said calmly, as if he didn't care about Wu Jie's rudeness that he didn't have the distinction of master and slave. "I was born in that year. In that year...among the three craftsmen in Shanglinyuan, many women were pregnant. Most of them were raped by those black-clothed servants. A few of them found male craftsmen like my mother. It's better to be married without a matchmaker than to be humiliated!" Wu Jie gritted his teeth, his voice hoarse, and his tone was full of resentment.

Li Qichen remained silent. He had heard such rumors, but no one could confirm them.The only thing that is certain is that since then, the selection rules for the black-clothed servants in the imperial palace have been changed: before that, they were recruited on the basis of merit among soldiers, but since then they have been selected among the children of noble scholars and bureaucrats, and their age is also younger. You can join, and you will be appointed to another official position when you reach the age of eighteen.He also bid farewell to Salt Lake after a few years, left Tong Rate and Master, and entered the palace as a servant.

"What happened afterwards?" Yan Wei still had the temperament to ask the bottom of the casserole. Li Qichen let out a long sigh: "It was naturally suppressed later on. All the male concubines were either executed or sent to build cities to do hard work. The female concubines also had their own punishments, but they still stayed in Shanglin Garden..." Yan Wei turned her head and asked Wu Jie: "Then how did you end up here?" Before Wu Jie could answer, Gongzi Cong said, "That's because ten years later, they broke out again and took advantage of the earthquake to escape."

Yan Wei wondered: "Then what's going on?" Prince Cong said: "Then Jiang Guo was afraid of our military power, so he formed an alliance with Qi State. The condition of Qi State's agreement to form an alliance was to ask Jiang Guo to embroider a huge map of Qi's mountains and rivers. But Jiang Guo embroidered for two years. It didn’t work either. Instead, Empress Jiang, who was in charge of embroidery, died of illness, so Qi State broke off their alliance with them. Our country sent troops to attack Jiang State again. After all, Jin State in the north violated our border, so our army had to withdraw from Jiang State and march northward. At this time, the whole country was recruited, and there was a shortage of servants and guards. An earthquake happened, and the courtyard of Shanglin Garden collapsed. These concubines and slaves took the opportunity to flee. At that time, the country had no military force to hunt them down, so we had to order the whole country to enslave anyone who saw the double dragon brand on their necks."

"Alas..." Yan Wei sighed softly. The decades of grievances and disputes between Yang Guo and Jiang Guo were like a passing cloud in her heart, but the rough half life of these slave laborers made her feel emotional. "Why don't you speak?" Yan Wei patted Wu Jie's shoulder lightly. "What can I say?" Wu Jie replied hoarsely. "They didn't personally experience these things. They were all hearsay or official records. You are in it, and your experience is naturally different. I want to hear your story." Yan Wei said softly. Wu Jie looked back at Yan Wei, her eyes were shining brightly, she turned her head again, and while continuing to lower her head to pull the cart, she said slowly: "In fact, neither of my parents participated in the 'Three Carpenters Uprising', we My mother was pregnant with Liujia, and it was difficult for me to move. My father cared about both of us, mother and child, and didn't join them in the uprising. Instead, he offended them both... But the punishment was indiscriminate. My father was punished to build a city, and his life and death were unknown. , but those people think my father is a traitor, I'm afraid it won't make him feel better... Although my mother is peaceful, she also suffered a broken hamstring."

"Ah?! This punishment is too severe..." Yan Wei sighed. Li Qichen nodded: "At that time, the punishment for concubines and slaves was that the leader was executed, the weaver had his face tattooed and his nose was cut, and the embroiderer had his legs and tendons broken." Wu Jie sighed: "These people are the best craftsmen in the Jiang country. If their legs are disabled, they can no longer use the waist machine to weave cloth..." His voice was almost choked with sobs. "Waist machine? What is that?" Yan Wei was puzzled. Gongzi Cong said: "It is the simplest loom, which is commonly used by people in Jiang country. It is rare in Yang country. One end of the loom is tied to a person's waist, and the other end is supported by two feet. The weaver sits on the mat. If the hamstring is broken, the legs are weak, and the frame cannot be supported, then the waist machine cannot be used..."

Li Qichen said: "The punishment at that time probably thought that embroiderers didn't need to use their feet, but they didn't think that there were not enough weavers, and some embroiderers would inevitably participate in weaving... However, the common people in Yanchi also used waist looms, but they would Fix the other end to the beam without using feet to support it." Gongzi Cong said: "I heard that there are also people who put wooden stakes on the ground to support the waist machine." Wu Jie sneered and said, "Wooden stakes? Those people are afraid that we will make trouble again, they don't even leave us the scissors for cutting cloth, and the needles for embroidery have to be handed out in the morning and taken back in the evening. How can you allow you to make wooden stakes?"

Yan Wei sighed, "Then what should you do?" Wu Jie said: "Later, everyone came up with a way to tie the two ends of the waist machine to the waists of two people respectively. The two people weaved from each end and met in the middle, forming a double pattern in the middle. The length of the cut was just right. It is the length of a deep garment, so that the heavy pattern is exactly located at the waist of the garment, and symmetrical patterns can be woven from top to bottom..." "Duan Hun Zong?! You mean Duan Hun Zong?" Gong Zi Cong said in surprise. Wu Jie didn't expect that Gongzi Cong would know the name of this fabric, and said strangely: "Exactly, I used to weave a small amount in Shanglinyuan back then, but King Yang didn't like it, so he stopped later. After fleeing, my mother and I went to weave again. Weaved some..." Young Master Cong said: "I got a deep garment with broken soul woven fabric, the whole piece of woven fabric, the waist looks like a belt, and there is a strip woven with double warp and double weft, with symmetrical Tongsheng patterns on the top and bottom. Wearing it on the body, looking from top to bottom, the upper body is crimson, and the lower body is blue, but when others look at it, the upper body is blue, and the lower body is crimson. Find the craftsman who wove the cloth, and find other craftsmen to imitate it, but no one can imitate it.” Wu Jie said quietly: "Is there a word 'water' embroidered on the right side seam of the clothes waist?" Gongzi Cong nodded. Wu Jie said: "My mother and I weaved that, and that is my mother's name..." There was a moment of silence, everyone walked silently, and no one spoke.The national feud is like an invisible wall, which cuts off the tenderness and tenderness. It is inappropriate to say anything, so I simply don't say it. In the end, Yan Wei, who was still outspoken, broke the silence and asked the bottom line: "What happened next?" Wu Jie let out a long sigh: "Later... the earthquake, everyone fled in all directions. Those weavers with tattooed faces and noses were too conspicuous, and most of them were arrested before leaving the city. Although my mother was lame, but because of me , on the contrary, it is not easy for people to think that they are escaped slaves from Jiang State. We dare not go in the direction of Jiang State. We hid in a remote place in the northwest for several years. This year, because of the drought, everyone ran southeast, and we followed the flow When I got here, I thought that if I had the chance to return to Jiang Country, I would die in peace..." "What about your mother?" Yan Wei continued to ask. "Killed by them..." These five words were spit out from Wu Jie's mouth flatly, without the slightest cadence, and even the pace under his feet did not stagnate in the slightest. Yan Wei was stunned, stopped, and hurried to catch up with two steps, asking: "Where was it just now? Is it those people?" Wu Jie didn't speak, didn't nod, didn't shake his head, just pulled the cart harder, with his head lowered, body arched, back almost parallel to the ground, walking, suddenly pulled out his arm to wipe his eyes. Yan Wei thought of the human bones beside the ashes, and suddenly felt disgusted and retched.Li Qichen hurriedly handed over the gourd filled with water. Suddenly, Wu Jie fell to his knees and howled loudly, choking with sobs while crying, "Just because... we are slaves... we are from Jiang Guo... we will be killed...cooked..." Yan Wei walked over, patted him on the shoulder lightly, didn't know how to comfort him, and said after a long time: "It's over... Don't think about it... Only by living well can you be worthy of your parents..." Unexpectedly, as soon as the words fell, Wu Jie said in a low voice almost groaning: "They...they...fed me...the soup..." After speaking, he vomited violently, throwing up all the food he just ate . Yan Wei smelled the sour smell of vomiting, and couldn't help but feel nauseous for a while, and retched again and again. Spitting out everything buried in my heart seems to have a new life.After Wu Jie cried and vomited, it was as if she had been completely reborn, becoming as iron as a stone, as taciturn as when they first met, and she didn't say a word for a whole day. Yan Wei was also very depressed, and she was so stuffy that she didn't like to talk. Seeing the dull atmosphere, Li Qichen asked Wu Jie, "What are you going to do in the future?" Wu Jie glanced at Li Qichen, and said in a muffled voice, "Go back to Jiang Country." Young Master Cong smiled: "You are a slave I bought, if you want to get rid of your citizenship, you must first ask me if I will allow it." Wu Jie stared at Young Master Cong, and said word by word: "I, Jiang Guo people are not ungrateful people, you saved me, I will be my slave, at least I will take you to where you want to go by pulling a cart. But, as long as If I have the chance, I will run! If I can’t run, I will die, and my soul will return to Jiang Country!”