Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 445 0440 [Dean Zhu's happy life]

Hanzhong.

The former Dasong Lizhou Road Transshipment Department Yamen has now become the Chuanxia Economic Strategy Office.

This is not the point.

The point is that there are large gardens, pavilions, rockery ponds, and flowers and trees in the back house of the yamen.Now, except for the ponds which are reserved for irrigation, the gardens have been mostly leveled for arable land.All the rockery and strange rocks were dismantled and sold to wealthy households in the city.

Dean Zhu has dozens of acres of experimental fields in the outskirts of the city, of which [-] acres are used to grow rice, and the rest are used to cultivate various vegetables and fruits.

But in many cases, the experimental field outside the city is handed over to the students, because Dean Zhu still has official duties every day.

The arable land opened up in the back house of the yamen is specially used to grow mung beans!
This thing is placed in the north and is an extremely important crop.

Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty introduced fine varieties, one was Champa rice from the south, and the other was mung bean from India.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, Chinese traditional mung beans were called mung beans, and mung beans introduced from India were called Zhidou (there are many beans and large grains).

Now, Dean Zhu is trying to cross-breed two kinds of mung beans, which not only retains the fertile properties of Chinese mung beans, but also retains the high-yield attributes of Indian mung beans.

As early as the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Chinese ancestors knew that beans can be used to fertilize fields, and they also made a ranking: Mung beans are the top, followed by adzuki beans, and soybeans are the bottom.

Among leguminous plants, soybeans have the greatest fertilizer effect.Ju Ming was widely used to reclaim wasteland in the Nanxiang Basin, mainly taking its value as a "strategic material" and using soybeans to provide protein to the soldiers.

Seeing that he was about to occupy all the roads in the north, Dean Zhu set about cultivating mung bean seeds.

Mung beans are not only very beneficial to fertilize the fields, but also have a short production cycle. The root system can loosen the soil. Its drought resistance is comparable to that of corn. It is suitable for interplanting and rotation of various staple crops.

If interplanted with wheat, wheat yield can also be increased - without using chemical fertilizers, using mung beans to cover wheat can increase wheat yield by 10% to 18%.

The method of covering the green with mung beans only appeared in the Yuan Dynasty, and developed and matured in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

If it is promoted in the north, one can imagine how effective it will be!
early morning.

Zhu Guoxiang, the owner of the entire Sichuan, walked in the experimental field in common clothes, followed by male and female servants carrying dung buckets.

Shen Yourong and Wen Xiaomei, also wearing commoner clothes, poured manure on the mung bean seedlings themselves.

Mung beans do not require much fertility, so the manure water is adjusted very thinly, with only a slight foul smell.

There is also a concubine, An Niang, who just gave birth, otherwise she must be in the field.

Wen Xiaomei also took a ruler to measure the height of bean sprouts, leaf width and other data, and was responsible for recording them in a small notebook every day.

Zhu Guoxiang's one wife and two concubines have become half-agricultural experts due to long-term exposure.

Not only that, those high-ranking officials in Hanzhong Mansion learned that Zhu Xianggong had experimental fields inside and outside the city, and that he brought his wives and concubines to cultivate them together, so they eagerly learned agricultural knowledge.

They wanted nothing more than to have more common topics when they met Mr. Zhu!
They even let the children of the clan go to study agriculture at a young age, and declared to the outside world that they want to study farming and inherit the family, but in fact they just want to follow their own preferences.

"Sir, today's data has been recorded." Wen Xiaomei handed over the small notebook.

Zhu Guoxiang browsed through it roughly, nodded and smiled: "Thank you for your hard work."

"It's not hard," Wen Xiaomei stroked her drooping hair and said with a smile, "In the past, when I planted a garden, I only carried flowers and rare bamboos. After marrying my husband, I realized that growing food and vegetables is also quite interesting. It is complicated and profound, no less than reading the books of sages."

Shen Yourong had also washed his hands, came over and teased: "The yamen next door can often smell the stench of manure and water, and the officials jokingly call your husband 'the man who farms the land'."

Wen Xiaomei spread out her hands, looked at the tender calluses on her palms, and couldn't help laughing, "I never thought that I would plant the land myself one day."

Zhu Guoxiang was in a happy mood: "In his later years, he would go to the countryside to find a piece of land, where the men farmed and the women weaved and wandered in the mountains and forests. Those days were very happy."

"Sister-in-law let go of this huge foundation?" Wen Xiaomei asked.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Mundane affairs are annoying, I don't like it, let that bastard worry about it."

Wen Xiaomei smiled: "Xianggong is indeed a person who came out of the world, no wonder some people rumored that Xianggong is the reincarnation of a fairy."

"This immortal works so hard, I'm afraid he also lives on crops in the sky." Shen Yourong complained.

Zhu Guoxiang couldn't stop laughing when he heard that, he went back to his room and changed into an official uniform, and then strolled to the front hall to handle official duties.

Shen Yourong and Wen Xiaomei also changed into better clothes and went to teach their children how to read first.While the children were reciting texts and practicing calligraphy, they sat together and played Shuanglu.

Zhu's improved version of chess is popular in Hanzhong, but Shen Yourong always loses, so he might as well play Shuanglu, this game can win by luck.

In the afternoon, Grandma Yan sent someone to invite them to go to the theater together.

So they went to Washe together.

Grandma Yan doesn't like elegant ones, she just likes the low-end tile houses, because there are so many people and lively, and miscellaneous operas are also close to the lives of ordinary people.

There are servants and guards to follow, there are mixed fish and dragons here, and the security work is extremely difficult.

Grandma Yan also likes to chat with people, which makes the guards even more troublesome. Every time she goes out, it is like going to war.

There is already a special group of old men and women who come to Washe to hang out and wait every day.

As soon as she saw Mrs. Yan appearing, she immediately came forward to speak.The children and grandchildren of these old people all work in various government offices, and they obviously want to get in touch with Mrs. Yan.The guards didn't stop them either, because they were familiar with each other and had secretly investigated the details, knowing that their family backgrounds were innocent.

"Grandma is here to listen to the opera again!" Several old men and women greeted on their own initiative.

Grandma Yan smiled all over her face: "I'm too busy at home, so I don't have to worry about my children and grandchildren."

"The old lady is blessed, her children and grandchildren are promising, and the daughters-in-law are also filial."

"That's right, my daughter-in-law is not filial, and even makes faces at the dinner table."

"Then you won't teach me a lesson?"

"Her natal family is strong, how dare I teach her a lesson? So I said something more serious, and ran away to her natal family, and didn't come back for ten and a half months."

"If you want to talk about filial piety, you have to count the daughter-in-law of Mrs. Liu's family in Jinhuafang. She just passed the door last year. She has a big face and pockmarks, and she is not worthy of her son's good talent. But after she came in, the housework Not to mention taking good care of it, you can still help out in the shop, and you can say pleasant things to attract customers, and the business of the steamed stuffed bun shop in Mrs. Liu’s house is even better.”

"Then she is really lucky. To marry a virtuous wife, it doesn't matter how good-looking she is. A good wife is one who can speak and act."

"Isn't that what? It's also said that in Jinhuafang, there is a family named Yang who married a daughter-in-law who looked like a vixen, and she always provoked some rascals..."

Grandma Yan likes to listen to this kind of gossip.

She was not like this in the countryside before, especially when she was in Shangbai Village. After all, there were two widows and one child in the family, so she had to be more cautious in what she said and did.

Now she lets herself go, she loves to gossip, and she knows all the news about the whole Hanzhong prefecture and every neighborhood.

Shen Yourong and Wen Xiaomei were quite helpless, they were not gossips, and they had no interest in such matters.But when the old lady goes out, she always likes to let them accompany her, as if leading them to be the second general.

After gossiping, the old men and ladies began to change the topic again, saying all kinds of good things about the Zhu family and his son.

The guards were all in casual clothes, and Grandma Yan didn't reveal her real identity. She thought that others didn't know who she was.

"Last year, the weather was good and the weather was good. It's really an eye-opener. This year's grain prices have dropped again."

"It also depends on who is the official. Zhu Xianggong won Sichuan, and God blesses the weather. If Zhu Xianggong becomes the emperor, will the whole world be free from disasters every year?"

"This is reasonable, but the emperor in Tokyo is not good. He is a foolish emperor, and God will not bless him."

"What are the fields on the outskirts of the city called?"

"Experiment field!"

"Yes, it's the experimental field. The seedlings grew really well this year. I heard that there was a field that harvested five stone grains last year."

"I heard it was ten stones."

"Where are the ten stones? Mr. Zhu harvested twenty stones of the rice he planted!"

"..."

Grandma Yan was already grinning from ear to ear, she liked to hear people praise the Zhu family father and son, she really regarded the father and son as her own sons and grandsons.

Until the stage began to perform, these old people finally shut up.

Shen Yourong and Wen Xiaomei took the opportunity to sneak away, took two maids and two guards to go shopping, and came back when the performance here was almost finished.

Dean Zhu is quite capable of "regulating the family". This wife and concubine have a close relationship like sisters, and they even go shopping hand in hand.

In fact, it's easy to understand. Both women have been widowed for many years, and they don't like to fight. They live under the same roof all day, and they naturally become close. The main reason is that Dean Zhu can be a husband, and both women feel that they are closer. favored.

Apart from playing at home and farming with Zhu Guoxiang, Shen Yourong also taught Wen Xiaomei Nuhong, and Wen Xiaomei taught Shen Yourong calligraphy and painting.

After shopping for half an afternoon, they each carried some things to Washe, and took Grandma Yan home for dinner.

On the way, Grandma Yan smiled and said, "The price of rice this year has dropped to [-] Wen, and the common people say that Yuanzhang governed well. If it were that foolish king in Tokyo, the price of rice would still be more than [-] Wen. Say, Yuanzhang should be the emperor. I am not concerned about the position of the old queen, but for the sake of the common people in the world."

"Sister Xiang has indeed managed Sichuan well, and the people can live a good life." The two women immediately agreed, and they didn't expose anything, anyway, as long as the old lady is happy.

"I don't know what's going on with Brother Qi." Grandma Yan said again worriedly, "The daughter-in-law he married can't be a vixen, I'm really worried."

This is because there is too much gossip in the market, and he has brought other family's affairs into his grandson.

Shen Yourong immediately comforted her: "Brother Qi's wife is from a wealthy family in central Sichuan, so she is a virtuous lady."

Grandma Yan said again: "It's been more than a year since we've been married, why hasn't there been any news? If you don't want to take a concubine for brother Qi, you can talk about it when you have a son and a half."

"Old lady, don't worry, maybe the letter of good news is already on the way." Wen Xiaomei said.

Grandma Yan thought for a while: "Go to the temple to offer incense another day, and ask the Bodhisattva to bless Brother Qi to have a son soon."

The three of them were escorted back by the guards, and before they reached the Jinglue Mansion, they saw a fast horse galloping towards them.

The courier showed his badge and went straight to the gate of the Jinglue Mansion. After the transmission, he saw Zhu Guoxiang who had already left work: "Mr. Zhu, the Generalissimo has sent an urgent and confidential document!"

(End of this chapter)