Take the farm down to earth

Chapter 69
Early this morning, Shi Zhongkui, who had been studying behind closed doors for three months, walked out of the bedroom fully dressed, and saw Yu Honggao waiting for him in the yard.

He hurriedly stepped forward and saluted, "Teacher, what else do you have to say?"

Yu Honggao smiled and waved his hands, "Bo Qian devoted himself to studying for three months. As a teacher, I have seen from your articles every three days that the imperial examination is just a matter of luck for you."

Shi Zhongkui couldn't help frowning, what he said was very true, but also very helpless.

How many talented people are not hard enough, not without real talent and learning, but they just fell on luck.

Many people know the example of Tang Bohu, but Zhu Zhishan, who is as famous as Tang Bohu, was a scholar at the age of 18. He won the exam at the age of 33. After that, he tried 7 times and failed every time.

Moreover, Zhu Zhishan was not a poor scholar who settled down in a shabby household. On the contrary, many of his paternal lineages served as high-ranking officials in the Ming Dynasty, and he was born in a solid scholarly family.

There are also Wen Zhengming and Xu Zhenqing.

"Okay, don't think so much," Yu Honggao laughed, "As a teacher, I still dare to bet that you will pass the college exam, otherwise Shuntianfu will become the laughing stock of scholars."

Shi Zhongkui laughed when he heard about Shilin.

Because of the existence of Daxing land and Liu Yu'er, in the past three months or so, I have not been concerned about the rice field fish farming from time to time.

But the land and Liu Yu'er still report every day.

It is the people in the farm. From the time when the fish in the rice field grew to the size of a palm in July, there is fear and gratitude in their eyes, and they can see that this move is not only beneficial to the farmers, but also to the gentry and landlords. There are many benefits.

Moreover, the places in the north where rice can be grown must be places with abundant water sources. The price of paddy fields around Gyeonggi has increased a bit, and as long as there are paddy fields at home, servants will be sent to investigate in three to five days.

It's a pity that the Duke's Mansion and the next door have already obtained guarantees, and the Yang family, who even has the technology of raising rice and fish, directly listed the ten acres of land as a restricted area.

You can only inquire about the news, no one can enter to see.

There is even news that officials and landlords who were not active in cleaning up the canal in the past will start to rectify the capital's water system as soon as the results come out.

The purpose is nothing more than to artificially create more paddy fields and stabilize the water volume near Gyeonggi.

With such expectations, if Xuezheng of Shuntian Mansion really dared to deliberately not take Shi Zhongkui's words on the premise that Shi Zhongkui's article was not seriously wrong, then there would be not one or two people who scolded him.

With confidence, Shi Zhongkui felt at ease.

After bidding farewell to Yu Honggao and returning to his home in the capital to wait for the hospital examination in three days, Xue Pan came to the door without any surprise.

He took out a land deed for entering the house three times and put it in front of him, and took a wooden box from the servant with a smile.

Shi Zhongkui took the wooden box and opened it to see that it was filled with the Four Treasures of the Study. Don't think it must be from Xue Baochai, otherwise Xue Pan would definitely say so.

For a girl who has always been cautious, giving the Four Treasures of the Study is not much different from giving a sachet.

After reading it, Shi Zhongkui put the wooden box away, and said to Xue Pan with a smile, "Thank the gift giver for me, and say that I will never disappoint those who care about it."

"No problem, it's good that brother understands." Xue Pan laughed loudly, pointing to the deed on the table and said, "This is the third-entry house left by a fifth-rank official from the Ministry of Internal Affairs who was allowed to send scholars back home.

The house is indeed a bit big, but eunuch Xia took me to see it specially, and said that there is nothing illegal about this house, so my brother can rest assured. "

Only then did Shi Zhongkui feel relieved, the courtyards entered five times in the capital were 5% princely, and the four entered the courtiers and nobles and officials above the third rank.

As for the Sanjinyuan, it’s hard to say. Some first-rank senior officials are like this, and some people who have lived in the capital for generations have such a large courtyard, but the interior decoration and specifications are much worse.

There are also some houses that have been confiscated and confiscated, and most people are unwilling to buy them, but if the emperor bestows them, everyone will be happy to live in them again.

"Where is the location and how much is the price?"

Xue Pan smiled triumphantly, looked around, and said in a low voice, "Thanks to my brother, eunuch Xia learned from somewhere that there are good-quality saffron in the south, and actually asked my brother to buy 5 catties a month.

Others do this, let alone 5 catties, even 1 catty is hard to buy.

The younger brother pretended to be embarrassed, but eunuch Xia directly said that he knew that the younger brother had been looking for a house recently, so he took me to see this house.

The location is suitable, 5 miles west of the city, and less than 2 miles away from Rongguo Mansion.

But the price is quite expensive, the eggless eunuch actually asked me for 3 taels of silver, but when I went home and thought about it, my sister said that I should give it.

Brother, do you see? "

Shi Zhongkui nodded, the money should not be given, but must be given, otherwise it would really not be a matter of money.

Fortunately, the saffron produced in the space is better in appearance than the dried flowers from the Western Regions.

Not to mention other things, it took several months or even half a year for the Western Regions to ship them over, while the ones from my side were sent to the south as soon as they came out.

The shopkeepers of the Xue family could tell the difference at a glance. Of course, they only thought that it was delivered all the way from the plateau by fast horses.

And from the capital to Jinling, it was indeed delivered by a fast horse.

Otherwise, as long as someone in Dazhou planted on a large scale, they would not be able to escape the investigation of interested people.

Since the place of origin couldn't be found, those who cared about sending it all the way on a fast horse stopped thinking about it, and some even thought that this thing might be the new business of the frontier general.

The output of 15 catties per month and 180 catties per year is not so impressive compared to the amount of at least 3 to 5 kilos shipped from the Western Regions every year.

Moreover, as soon as the dried flowers were delivered to Jinling, they were scattered and sent to Suzhou, Hangzhou and other places, and they were bought within three or two days.

After that, many country gentry ordered one or two taels every month, which made this kind of saffron very popular, but it was only spread in a small circle.

That's why Xue Pan said, let alone 5 catties, even 1 catty is hard to buy if you change someone.

Even if the Ministry of Internal Affairs is the emperor's private treasury, in many cases, the better things are, the less they can be bought.

The reason is very simple. Apart from the issue of corruption, the eunuchs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are not stupid. If you can buy it this year but can't buy it next year, it will be a catastrophe.

Only when there are a large number of items, such as custom-made porcelain, silk and other products with mature technology, and there is no need to worry about products that cannot be manufactured, can the Ministry of Internal Affairs dare to buy them vigorously, and it is to raise the price by changing tricks.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there was an example of an egg for one tael of silver, but if you want to say that the egg is not worth buying, you are wrong.

There has been a case of a quail egg of one tael in the Rongguo Mansion, let alone something used by the emperor.

Shi Zhongkui put away the title deed, thought for a while and said, "When you go back, tell Miss Bao that the dried flowers from the Western Regions will only be sold in Suzhou and Hangzhou from now on, and the things will be sent to Xunyang first, and then go south by boat."

"Don't worry," Xue Pan chuckled, "My sister has already thought about it."

(End of this chapter)