Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 1132
It rained heavily overnight.

In the early morning, the world seemed to have been washed by the heavy rain last night. The sky was clear, the earth was clean, and the air was fresh.

In the early dynasty, the minister of the Ministry of Rites reported that the prefect of Hanchuan County said that he found wild silkworms making cocoons all over the mountains and fields. The prefect of Hanchuan ordered the people to harvest them, and they got more than ten thousand cocoons and made them into silk. blessing.Therefore, a special report was made to the imperial court, and at the same time, people were sent to pay tribute to a hundred pieces of silk made from cocoons made by wild silkworms.

In fact, this kind of wild silkworm is not the traditional silkworm. The silkworm is also called mulberry silkworm. It eats mulberry leaves and spins cocoons, which can be spun into silk.But wild silkworms are actually also known as tussah silkworms, which get their name because they like to eat oak leaves.It is also very different from ordinary silkworms. Ordinary silkworms are whiter, while tussahs are greener, like caterpillars.

However, wild silkworms make cocoons like wild silkworms, and their cocoons can also weave silk, but it is rare to have a large number of cocoons in a large area. Whenever this happens, the ancients regarded it as auspicious.

From Emperor Luo Cheng's point of view, this is actually just a natural phenomenon, just like a plague of locusts.It's just that tussah silkworm cocooning in large areas is even rarer.In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, some people found a way to artificially raise tussah silkworms.

This time, Luo Cheng did not refute the auspicious theory, and even asked the imperial court to issue an edict to reward the prefect of Hanchuan.

After going down to court, Luo Cheng immediately summoned people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.The Ministry of Internal Affairs is equivalent to the emperor's court steward, and there is also a department responsible for raising silkworms and weaving silk.

Luo Cheng instructed to immediately send a team to Hanchuan County to investigate the local tussahs in detail, to study the tussahs carefully, so as to find a way to artificially raise tussahs.

After all, artificial silkworm breeding requires not only planting mulberry, but also picking mulberry and feeding leaves, etc. If this kind of tussah silkworm masters good stocking techniques, it can increase a source of silk. You must know that in later generations, Dandong, the most famous tussah silkworm producing area, More than 3000 million catties of tussah cocoons can be produced in one year.

The prefect of Hanchuan thought it was auspiciousness from heaven, but Luo Cheng thought it was a good industry. As long as he studied it and found a way to stock it, he could make great profits and it was worth studying.

Even in addition to tussah silkworms, there are maple silkworms that eat maple leaves, castor silkworms that eat castor leaves, and ailanthus silkworms that eat ailanthus leaves. prospect.

It usually takes about [-] days for tussah silkworms to hatch from eggs to cocoons. From spring to autumn, tussah silkworms can be stocked for multiple seasons a year. If managed properly, the yield is high and the efficiency is high.

In addition to making cocoons and weaving silk, tussah silkworms also have many other functions. For example, tussah silkworm chrysalis are edible like silkworm chrysalis, and the residue can also be used as feed for fish, livestock, and poultry.

"Aye, can these wild silkworms be tamed and raised? Will they not run away?"

The prince came to pay his respects, and after seeing Luo Cheng's instructions to the Ministry of Internal Affairs about going to Hanchuan County to investigate and study the artificial breeding of tussah silkworms, he couldn't help asking during lunch.

"Although silkworms belong to moths, they can't fly until they break out of their cocoons, and when they mature, they start to form cocoons, and they need to stay in the cocoon for a period of time before they can evolve into moths and finally break out of their cocoons and fly. As long as the silkworm farmer grasps the time well, collects the cocoons before they break the cocoons, and then boils them, so that the silkworms will die in the cocoons when they are still chrysalis, and will not break out of the cocoons and turn into moths to fly away. In this way, the cocoons can be spun and woven , silkworm chrysalis can also be made into food."

"Isn't that cruel?"

Luo Cheng stroked the prince's back with his hand, "Prince, everything in the world has its own use. Raising silkworms to harvest cocoons and weave silk can make clothes to warm people and cover the body. This is not cruel. It's like raising chickens to eat meat , it’s not cruel, but you tortured and slaughtered chickens for food, that’s called cruelty, understand?”

"But that's also killing."

"Wolves eat sheep, sheep eat grass, this is the law of nature, but man is the primate of all things, above all else, he eats both meat and vegetarian, eating into the stomach is not called killing, but killing is called killing. We are not monks people, so the rules are different from what they follow.”

Luo Cheng hurriedly corrected the prince's childish thinking. The prince is already ordinary enough. If he becomes a monk in the future, he will be doomed.

"Is the mutton delicious?"

"It's delicious, and it tastes even better when roasted with Anxi fennel."

"Is the chicken delicious?"

"The boiled chicken is delicious."

"Is the fish delicious?"

“The fish fillets in the water basin are delicious.”

·····
Luo Cheng smiled and patted the prince's shoulder, "Isn't that right? If you say you can't eat these in the future, isn't it very interesting?"

"En." The prince licked his lips, and his mouth was already drooling just now when he said these few dishes.

"I will give you a task. I will give you twenty silkworm eggs, hatch them, and pick mulberries to feed them until they form cocoons."

The prince nodded, although he didn't quite understand the task his father had given him, but he still worked hard to do it.

Just like his father told him to raise horses and dogs, he also did it himself. Although he had the guidance and help of grooms and dog slaves, he would still do it by himself.

"By the way, what happened to your horse and dog?"

"Very good, the horse is very obedient and docile, but that dog is too naughty, he often urinates in my temple and poops, he is not as good as that horse at all."

"That's because you didn't teach him well, didn't your dog servant tell you how to discipline the dog?"

"Teach, but don't listen."

"That's because you didn't teach it well. You have to reward and punish the dog. First teach it how to do it. If it does the right thing, reward it with food. If it does something wrong, you have to beat it, so that it can have a long memory and understand later. It's the rules."

"The dog is so cute, it's still so small, it's not good to beat it and starve it."

Luo Cheng shook his head, "Prince, the rules must be established early, and there is no way to be around without rules. If you don't set rules for this dog now, then this dog will become an unruly dog ​​when it grows up, and he has no right to stay with this dog. You are by your side, and then he will be pulled out and slaughtered. You see, what you are doing now is not really good for the dog, but just hurting it, understand?"

"Father, can tussah silkworms be raised in the palace?"

"Of course you can raise it, but you have to plant oak trees first, so it's not worth it. The reason why my father sent people to Hanchuan to study tussah silkworms is because not only Hanchuan, but also from Guanzhong to Hanchuan, then to Central Plains, Henan and Shandong, and then to Hebei and Hedong. , and even Liaodong outside the customs, there are many oak trees, and some places are full of mountains, so there are good conditions for stocking tussah silkworms, which can reduce the cost of silkworm cocoons, and it is profitable to stock tussah silkworms.”

"Father, the teacher said that a gentleman doesn't talk about profit."

"Which teacher said that?"

"Bachelor Li Zhan said it."

Luo Cheng chuckled twice, Li Gang, the prince Zhan Shizai, a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, are all people who worship the prime minister, but in the final analysis, he is still a bit bookish.

"A gentleman doesn't talk about profit. That's not the way to explain it. Do you know where this sentence comes from?"

"It was said by the sage Mencius, from the "Liang Hui Wang Zhangju" in "Mencius". Mencius saw Liang Hui Wang. The king said: "Old man!Coming thousands of miles away, will it benefit our country? "

Mencius said to him, "Your Majesty, why do you need to talk about benefits? There is also benevolence and righteousness. Therefore, Li Zhan teaches his sons and ministers and governs the country with righteousness. Why should he talk about benefits."

Luo Cheng then taught his son, "It's not that a gentleman doesn't talk about profit at all. And to save the disadvantages, this is the heart of the sage. We and other future generations should understand the situation of the sage's words at that time, and we can't judge the meaning based on the text."

"But Li Zhan also said that Confucius also said that a gentleman is associated with righteousness, and a villain is associated with profit. He also said that Xunzi also said that righteousness is valued in prosperous times, and profit is valued in troubled times."

Luo Cheng was speechless, "You little bastard, you can drop your book bag, and you can speak the words of a sage, but I want to teach you, as a prince and as the heir, then you should be as righteous as you are, and a gentleman should not be ashamed of speaking. But you have to grasp righteousness and benefit well, you can’t pay more attention to benefit than righteousness, and you can’t just value righteousness and despise benefit, to get both righteousness and benefit, grasp the balance, understand?”

The prince scratched his head. What his father said had two meanings to what his teacher Li Gang said.

"You have to listen to some of Li Gang's teachings, but you can't listen to them all. You have to listen to your father too, understand? You have to remember that it is better to have no books than to believe in all the books. Listen to it and you will understand."

"Prince, it's not enough to talk about benevolence and righteousness. As a king, you have to seek food and clothing for your people, so that you can live and work in peace and contentment. You know etiquette if you can't even solve the food and clothing of your people. , is nothing but a hypocrite, remember!"

(End of this chapter)