Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 103 0098【Shabu Mutton】

Before winter, the weir pond on the mountainside has already been dug, and the rest is to constantly tamp the bottom and walls of the pond.

Most of the workers were transferred down the mountain, some were laying foundations for the high-drum carts, and others were digging aqueducts at the foot of the mountain.

Especially the diversion canal needs to pass through the fields of many villagers along the way.If it is placed elsewhere, this is a difficult point of water conservancy engineering, and many canals have been abandoned halfway because of this-needing land acquisition!
Zhu Ming did not expropriate them by force, but adjusted the land ownership and allocated a piece of wasteland elsewhere to make up for them.

As long as this canal is dug through and combined with a high-drum cart, half of the paddy fields in the village can be irrigated.

This winter is extremely cold, and the temperature drops sharply at the end of September in the lunar calendar.

In order to finish the project before the snowfall, Zhu Ming hired more young and strong.The salary can only be owed first, and it will be deducted from taxes or land rent next year.

The villagers were dubious about this, but they still came with their hoes on their shoulders.As long as Ju Ming fulfills his promise in the future and really supplements their wages, he will definitely gain a high degree of trust from the villagers.

In mid-October, the canal was still not dug, and the sky suddenly fell with sleet.

The construction can no longer be continued. Fortunately, more than half of the excavation has been done, and the high-drum car has also been made.

"Test drive!"

Following Zhu Guoxiang's order, the two cattle began to work, driving the tall bobbins with gears.At the same time, the non-turbulent river water is also exerting a little momentum on the bobbin car.

There are two modes for the high-speed water wheel, one is driven by hydraulic power, and gears are not required, and it is only suitable for places with turbulent water flow.The other kind has to use animal power. The large carts drawn in the Yuan Dynasty's "Nongshu" obviously have wooden gears.

Under the watchful eyes of many villagers, a [-]-meter-high drum cart took the river water into the diversion tank.

Those water channels are all in the air, all made of wood, and there are many brackets below to support them.

The drum car and the water diversion tank were built so high, purely due to the broken terrain.The high-drum car was invented to irrigate the high-altitude fields.As for the lower fields, when water is needed, the gap in the ridge can be opened, and the water will flow down naturally.

In the future, it will be maintained every year, brushing tung oil on the barrel car and water diversion tank, and replacing the severely decayed wood directly.

At this moment, the river water passed through the paddy fields from a high altitude, and fell into the canal at the foot of the mountain.

Colossal, ingenious workmanship!
Even the villagers without paddy fields cheered.

They never even dreamed of seeing it, not to mention seeing it, that there is such a magical machine in the world.

And the faces of those villagers who own paddy fields are full of excitement.Next year, I will finally no longer have to work hard to carry water. With the help of a big drum truck, I can irrigate with some water money.

The new village head Zhu is indeed more effective than the bandit leader!
Zhu Ming smiled and said to his father: "If this is a strategy game, there will probably be a message prompt: Di, your village is built with a big drum, agriculture +3, free labor +3, and the prestige of the village chief +10."

"It's easy for you. I'm so tired from this big cart." Zhu Guoxiang said angrily.

Dean Zhu took a break from his busy schedule and used to play video games.

At first, he was the Red Police and Warcraft, but later he was taken by his wife to steal vegetables, and he could understand what his son said.

The weather is getting colder and the canals are completely shut down, and the rest will continue to be dug next year.

More than ten days later, several light snowfalls, followed by heavy snowfall.

"This damn weather is worthy of the Little Ice Age!"

Ju Ming sat in the main room, throwing pieces of wood into the brazier from time to time, looking at the snowflakes floating outside with emotion.

Zhu Guoxiang rubbed his hands and turned to the fire: "There is no air-conditioning, no heating, it is very difficult. The villagers in the mountainous area are okay, there are trees everywhere, and there is enough wood to keep warm for the winter. It is difficult for the residents in the city. It has been snowing for so long, there must be no woodcutters." Husbands go to sell firewood, and the stored firewood burns out and they have to carry it hard.”

Zhu Ming kept stomping his feet: "It's minus ten degrees here, it's still cold in the fire."

"That's because you didn't close the door!" Zhu Guoxiang went over to close the door, and instantly became much warmer.

Zhu Ming dragged a bench to lie down: "The doors and windows are closed, so we can't enjoy the snow. Dean Zhu, do you still have any cigarettes?"

"What about yours?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

"It's over." Zhu Ming said.

Zhu Guoxiang took out a pack of Huazi from his arms, counted them carefully, and there were the last five and a half.He handed the half cigarette to his son and lit a whole one himself: "Did tobacco come from America?"

"Yes." Zhu Ming didn't dislike it either, he picked up half a Huazi and smoked it.

Zhu Guoxiang stuffed back the remaining four cigarettes, and said whimsically, "If we succeed in the rebellion, is it possible to send troops across the Pacific Ocean to get some tobacco from the Americas and plant it?"

Zhu Ming was amused: "Then in the future history books, I'm afraid it will be written like this: The founding emperor and his father were addicted to cigarettes, and they couldn't stop them. So they recruited soldiers, built giant ships, crossed the ocean, and went on an expedition to the barbarians to get tobacco and return it."

Zhu Guoxiang also laughed, bending over to fiddle with the firewood in the brazier.

In the next room, several women were chatting and laughing, chatting about anecdotes and giving shoe soles to their families.

The children stayed at Meng Zhao's house, and Meng Xiucai personally taught the children to learn new characters and Arabic numerals by the way.

The name has also been changed accordingly: "one" is a positive number, "one" is a complex number, and "1" is a simplified number.

Deng Chun, who was married and had children, heard that Meng Xiucai was teaching children, so he also sneaked in to learn.He can recognize more than 80 commonly used characters, and he also knows that "kao" is the dead father and "妣" is the dead mother, and he is familiar with the size and proportion of regular script and official script.

"Ahhhh!"

Suddenly the door slammed, and Bai Sheng's voice came from outside: "Mr. Zhu, Brother Zhu, there are good things!"

Zhu Ming got up to open the door, and a gust of cold wind suddenly poured in.

Bai Sheng was carrying a goat, and said with a smile on his face, "I went down the mountain and bought a goat. I'm going to treat my brothers to eat it today."

This fellow is also a straightforward person, he likes to make friends when he is a rascal, and he likes to be generous when he doesn't have a few pennies in his hand.

It has been snowing for the past few days, and Bai Sheng was so suffocated that he simply ran to buy a goat and came back for dinner.

Zhu Ming turned to look at his father: "Eat mutton hotpot?"

"good idea!"

Zhu Guoxiang was also suffocated by the heavy snow, and arranged: "You come to kill and skin the sheep, and I will get vegetables and dipping sauce."

When the women in the neighboring house heard that they were going to cook, they put down their sewing and came to help.

Braving the light snow, Zhu Guoxiang went to the field to chop white sable cabbage.

Bai Siong is an evolutionary variety of Chinese cabbage, which belongs to the ancestor of Chinese cabbage.

The evolution of cabbage from cabbage was first recorded in "Qing Yi Lu" in the early Northern Song Dynasty.Until the Ningzong period of the Southern Song Dynasty, there was finally a clearer record: the big one is called cabbage, and the small one is called cabbage.

At this moment, the white cabbage that Zhu Guoxiang cut back is only surrounded by two or three leaves in the middle, and the surrounding leaves are all growing outwards.Moreover, the stems are narrow and the leaves are broad, the color is blue and white, and the shape is between Chinese cabbage and Chinese cabbage.

In winter, this is the only vegetable left.

Dean Zhu went to pick vegetables, while village chief Zhu was sharpening his knife and stalking the goat.

Holding the butcher knife, Zhu Ming stood still for a long time. He had already learned to kill people, but he had no experience in killing sheep.

"Let me come!"

Zhang Guangdao pressed the goat into the snow, bent his knees to press the goat's body, grabbed the goat's horn with his left hand, and stabbed it with a knife with his right hand.

Bai Sheng handed over a wooden basin, sheep blood can't be wasted.

Everyone was bustling with enthusiasm, and even the children came out to play snowball fights, sweeping away the depression that had been pent up in the house for half a month.

Today is Xiaoxue, finally able to move. The heavy snow a few days ago was helpless.

The ground is covered with snow, which has covered the knees!
Move the clay stove into the main room, set up an iron pot and start cooking the soup base.There are not many condiments, and there is no chili, so we can only make do with it.

Meng Zhao watched from the side with his sleeves wrapped around: "Sir, are you making shabu-shabu?"

"Correct."

As soon as Zhu Guoxiang heard the name, he knew it was the ancient name of hot pot.

The alias of rabbit meat hot pot in Song Dynasty is called elegant: Baxia Gong.

It comes from two lines of poems, "The river and snow are surging in a clear sky, and the clouds are shining in the evening when the wind is blowing - the tumbling white soup is like a river and snow surging in a sunny day."Chopsticks held the white rabbit meat, put it into the soup pot, and it immediately turned red, as if the sunset was reflected on Feng Zhaozi.

The skin of the goat was peeled off, and several big men chopped up the bones and meat, and chopped the goat into eight pieces in minutes.

Take out the big bones and throw them into the pot to make soup.

Zhu Ming cut a large piece of fat and thin, and put it in a wooden basin to freeze in the snow.After a while, when it was a little harder, I got a piece of mutton back into the house.

In the middle of the afternoon, everyone sat around three tables, all of whom were village leaders and their families.

"Father, tell me a few words." In front of outsiders, Zhu Ming gave his father a lot of face.

Zhu Guoxiang raised the wine cup and said: "Everyone has worked hard this year, and there are two days before the winter solstice, let's celebrate in advance. After selling new tea next year, planting corn and sweet potatoes, and completely digging the canal, Daming Village will definitely become more popular. Drink this bowl to the brim!"

"Done!"

Ju Ming shouted with a smile.

"Dry!"

Not only the men were shouting, but the women were also shouting, but they didn't directly toast.

Three small stoves are placed on the table, and there are clay pots on the stoves.

No one needs to teach this thing, everyone knows how to rinse it.There are only mutton, offal, xuewang and cabbage, seasoned with ginger, garlic, vinegar, salt and pepper, but it is very delicious at this moment.

The big bones that haven't been shaved clean are taken out of the soup and thrown to the children to chew slowly.

Shi Biao eats mutton silly, it's so cool here, the village chief not only takes care of him, but also makes many friends, and occasionally eats meat and drinks.

Zhu Ming boiled the mutton and said: "Deng Chun, Deng Xia, Shi Biao, after the beginning of spring, you should come over more often and practice martial arts with everyone. The fields allocated to you can be rented to the villagers, and you don't have to work so hard yourself."

"I listen to the village chief!" The three agreed quickly.

After the Zhu family's father and son finished speaking, Zhang Guangdao raised his glass again: "What I am most happy about is making friends with many good men. As long as brothers are of the same mind, I can go anywhere in the world. I will drink this bowl of wine. To all brothers!"

"Drink!" Bai Sheng raised his glass in response.

At the main table, people kept urging and toasting, but Shi Biao and Meng Zhao just sat there stupidly.

Yu Shanwei sat at the next table, pretending to stand up to add firewood to the small stove, and took the opportunity to secretly pat her husband on the back.

Meng Zhao is not stupid, of course he knows how to toast.But most of the people here are reckless men, and they have no common topic with him. Since they can't get in the conversation, they just bury their heads in eating meat.

After being reminded by his wife, Meng Zhao finally stood up: "Thanks to Mr. and Dalang for taking in, I will present a bowl to both of you. I wish Daming Village a prosperous future!"

"Okay, done!" Zhu Ming said with a smile.

Zhu Guoxiang also raised his wine bowl.

Yu Shanwei listened to the movement again, feeling a little speechless.After the husband paid respects to the village chief and his son, he ate meat in a muffled voice, without communicating with other people at all.

There is quite a lot of wine in the village, most of which are left by bandit leaders.

There are also some from the family of the young white member. Zhu Ming did not take any money at that time, but emptied the wine storage.

You have a bowl, I have a bowl, the wine is warm and the atmosphere is more harmonious.

Bai Sheng drank too much and was in a hurry to urinate, so he walked out crookedly.

Zhu Ming also followed, hooking shoulders and backs to support each other, and went to the hut to release water together: "After the Chinese New Year, you go down the mountain with me, first go to Shangbai Village to find Bai Sanlang, and then go to Yangzhou City and Xingyuan Mansion with him. Take Shi Biao with you too, you're smart enough to keep an eye on him all the way."

Bai Sheng shook his head, regaining consciousness a little: "I remember."

When I went to Yangzhou City, I was looking for Fatty Zheng and Li Hanzhang.

When I went to Xingyuan Mansion, I sent corn and sweet potatoes to Lu Tixue.

By the way, bring back the custom-made weapons for free!
Lifting his pants and tightening his belt, Zhu Ming looked outside, and the snow seemed to be getting bigger again.

He still didn't know that in these few days, the Central Plains area encountered severe white disasters.

Inside and outside the city of Kaifeng, it snowed heavily for more than ten days in a row, and the ground was covered with more than eight feet of snow.The gates of houses and shops in the city were all blocked by snow, and the government mobilized the people to clear the snow every day.The ground was frozen and horses could not walk, Song Huizong ordered all officials to enter the court in sedan chairs.

A large number of beggars froze to death, and the corpses were collected every day!
This was the largest snowfall ever recorded in the entire Huizong Dynasty.

Lu Tixue's recommendation letters and personal letters were delayed due to some incidents, and they were not delivered to Kaifeng until the road was blocked by heavy snow.

(I recommend Da Luoluo's "Kangxi, Your Qing Dynasty is Dead". You can tell what to write just by hearing the name. This book has already ranked first in the history of new books. If you like it, you can read it.)
(End of this chapter)