Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 891 0886 [Flowers bloom in Luoyang]

When Liu Yannian came to Beijing, it was March in Yangchun.

Even before we got off the boat, we had already seen the scenery of Luoyang.

No matter whether they are dignitaries or traffickers, they all have peony hairpins on their heads.

The whole of Luoyang is a sea of ​​flowers.

This was Liu Yannian's first visit to Luoyang. He was so attracted by the grand scene that he couldn't help but want to buy a flower hairpin.

"Selling flowers, selling flowers!"

As soon as the boat docked, several boys and girls crowded forward carrying flower baskets.

The older one is fourteen or fifteen years old, and the younger one is eleven or twelve years old. The clothes they wear are relatively cheap. At first glance, they look like children from ordinary families.

They held flower baskets high and shouted to the passengers who were disembarking.

And the owner doesn’t want to sell it yet.

That was in the early Song Dynasty, and prices were not expensive!
Later, the garden was dedicated to the royal family, who in turn gave it to the temple. The monk sold all the peony plants, reclaimed the flower beds as farmland, and planted wheat and mulberry trees instead.

"The door is open! The door is open!"

Liu Yannian was speechless on the spot. There were so many people crowding in, and they were actually here to buy flowers.

"Give way, please give way!"

A merchant's home?

"Yang Yuan's wife." The man replied.

One of them asked: "How do you sell this whole plant?"

After listening to the man's story, Liu Yannian shook his head and said, "Peonies are inedible, how can you waste money so much?"

"Five articles!"

The men started shouting.

A wealthy businessman in the crowd laughed and said, "My dear nephew, you think of all the good things you can do, but he won't sell even if I offer fifty guan."

"I also have ten coins, which are very valuable."

The man quickly bought a peony hairpin, and Liu Yannian also spent money to buy one worth ten cents.

But the courtyard door only opened a little, and a servant stuck his head out and shouted: "Don't listen to the rumors spread by the gangsters, we don't sell Wei flowers!"

You can graft if you want.

"..."

"How much does one stick cost?" asked someone next to Liu Yannian.

Gradually, the wheat and mulberry trees disappeared, and it became the back garden of the temple.

Liu Yannian walked over curiously and asked those crowded around the crowd: "Which mansion is this?"

The less famous "Yao Huang" is relatively easy to buy, and one flower is worth about two to three hundred yuan. This is because word gradually spread that when it was rare in the past, a piece of "Yao Huang" was worth a thousand coins.

"Wei Hua" is the king of peonies in Luoyang. Before the decline of the Wei family, you had to buy a ticket if you wanted to enter the garden to enjoy the flowers.

The flower holder said: "I won't sell it. If I want to sell flowers, I will go to the flower market. Why do I come to Zhuque Street?"

"Yaohuang" is cheaper. It was only 100 shi at the beginning, but now it only costs 20 shi per graft.

Could it be the residence of some minister?

The rich man made an offer: "Thirty guan!"

Several rich people squeezed into the crowd and marveled after watching carefully.

Although "Weihua" has been scattered into people's homes, the quantity is extremely rare and no one is willing to sell it.

Liu Yannian asked again: "But who is the member of the Sixth Department?"

"Here, here!" the crowd of onlookers responded.

Suddenly, several rich men came running on horseback, shouting along the way: "Who has a different product? Who has a different product?"

The man smiled and said, "It's Mr. Yang who is doing business."

Grafting "Wei Hua" once, regardless of whether it is successful or not, will cost you one hundred shi meters - the grafting fee!

Nowadays, the temple has also been banned by the imperial court and converted into residences and shops.

He took his servants with him, settled in an inn, and then wandered around Luoyang City.

"I'm a San Wen."

When we arrived at Zhuque Street, which was renamed after the Ming Dynasty moved the capital, we saw a father and son holding an exotic peony, standing on the street surrounded by countless people.

"What do you, a foreigner, know?" the man said scornfully.

Walking to a street, I saw a large group of people crowded in the alley next to it, and there were even a few carriages parked.

A ticket costs more than ten coins, and the Wei family can collect more than ten coins a day.

Liu Yannian continued to stroll, and there were flowers and flowers everywhere...

The flower holder said: "I am waiting here to present it to the Supreme Emperor."

As soon as this statement came out, people who wanted to buy flowers gave up immediately.

Presenting flowers is a tradition in Luoyang. After discovering unusual flowers, the lower class people will sell them to wealthy households.

But as long as they don't have to worry about food and clothing, they will try their best to cultivate copies. Then, give one of them to the emperor or prime minister, and this rare product will instantly become worth a hundred times.

Those who present flowers will not only receive monetary rewards from the emperor and prime ministers, but the remaining book in their hand will also become a hen that lays golden eggs.

The king of peony flowers, "Wei Hua", was originally presented to the prime minister by a woodcutter.

However, there is no copy to speak of. After the prime minister obtained this wild exotic product, he personally cultivated "Weihua" into a variety.

Will the Supreme Emperor pass by here?
Liu Yannian's focus was obviously different. He believed that the Supreme Emperor was a benevolent king, and he also wanted to stop and advise him here.

No, you can’t remonstrate with the Supreme Emperor!
Now that the emperor is in charge of the Ming Dynasty, if he goes to remonstrate with the Supreme Emperor, he may really piss off the emperor.

Liu Yannian volunteered to be a gunman, not that he was really that stupid. "The Supreme Emperor has entered the city! The Supreme Emperor has entered the city!"

Cars came slowly from outside the city, and the crowd of onlookers dispersed spontaneously, leaving a path for those who presented flowers to walk out.

The exotic peony plant was quite large. The flower presenter and his son carried it away, followed closely by everyone behind them.

Zhu Guoxiang goes to the experimental field outside the city every now and then, and he doesn't have many guards with him.

At this moment, the guards felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy. One of them came over and asked, "What is the purpose of gathering here to block the Emperor's carriage?"

The flower-presenter knelt down suddenly: "Fan Dazhong, a common man, has a special peony for the Supreme Emperor!"

The guards quickly called their companions, and the two of them carefully carried it away. They returned to the carriage and said, "Your Majesty, some people have presented you with exotic peonies."

Zhu Guoxiang knew peonies well, which originated from Gen Yue.

Genyue cultivated many valuable peonies, and Zhu Guoxiang even helped Song Huizong with grafting. He also used colchicine to induce polyploid mutation in an attempt to create an exotic peony to please Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty.

Unfortunately, the success rate of polyploid peonies is too low.

After admiring it carefully for a moment, Zhu Guoxiang nodded and praised: "There are many leaves and the color is like goose yellow, so it is called Qianye goose yellow."

"Good name!"

The common people who were separated by the guards, and the few who were closer heard it, and immediately praised the Supreme Emperor for giving him the name.

Zhu Guoxiang called the father and son who presented the flowers again: "Although I like peonies, I don't want to take away their beauty... Don't say anything. If I accept your flowers, should I accept them if someone offers me a treasure? As soon as this case is opened, local officials Competing for tribute, wouldn't it be enough to give him a fancy name?"

The person who presented the flowers quickly knelt down and thanked him: "Thank you, His Majesty the Emperor, for giving me the name of the flower!"

With the name given by the Supreme Emperor, the value of this exotic peony will surely double.

Liu Yannian not only sighed: "What a sage, wise and benevolent king. With such a sage, all the people of the country will be blessed."

I also silently added in my mind: Why did you abdicate?
Not only Liu Yannian was praising, but the people present were also praising.

In order to repair the Luoyang Palace, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty also ordered the conquest of Huashi Gang. Many local people in Luoyang were captured and sent to serve in the army, and all the cattle in the surrounding villages were killed - their bones were ground into powder and boiled into mortar.

At this moment, when the emperor said that he refused to accept peonies for fear of Hua Shi Gang, the people subconsciously thought of Song Huizong.

Comparing the two, the one in front of me is a good emperor.

Hmm...what a great emperor!

The Emperor's chariot continued to move forward and gradually entered the imperial city.

The place where the flowers were laid just now has become crazy.

Just because Zhu Guoxiang personally gave the peony its name, someone immediately shouted for this peony, which had the highest bid of fifty guan, "I'll pay 80 guan!"

"One hundred strings, sell it to me quickly!"

"One hundred and fifty strings."

"One hundred and eighty guan, the price is already very high."

"You want to buy this rare product named after the Supreme Emperor for 180 guan? I'll give you 200 guan!"

"..."

But the father and son who presented the flowers were very proud and said with a smile: "This exotic plant was named Qianye Goose Yellow by the Emperor. I won't sell it, but it can be grafted. In a few months, when the month is suitable for grafting, you can get it Just come to me with money. I am afraid of hurting the mother. I only marry one branch a year, and I will marry whoever pays the highest price!"

The father and son carried the exotic peonies and happily walked home.

Many Luoyang citizens followed and praised this exotic strain.

The scene was like a fisherman parading a big fish on his back while a group of fishing friends flattered him and boasted about his fishing skills.

"That exotic plant is really good." Shen Yourong, who was sitting in the carriage as he approached the imperial city, said.

Li Qingzhao smiled and said: "Compared to Wei Zi and Yao Huang, it is still a lot worse, but its appearance is similar to that of Zuohua (a type of Thousand Leaf Purple)."

An Xiaomei said: "No matter how good Wei Zi and Yao Huang are, they are not as good as the yin and yang faces in the palace."

"It's just that the name is too...well, the name was given by the emperor." Li Qingzhao couldn't help but sigh.

There is also a book of exotic peonies in the palace, which was created by Zhu Guoxiang using colchicine.

The success rate of polyploid peonies is extremely low, and the survival rate is also low. They will die as soon as they are raised, and they are difficult to graft and plant.

Zhu Guoxiang simply used colchicine at a concentration of 0.5% to 1% as a medicine to pass the time, and conducted repeated induction experiments for nearly ten years. There are only a few surviving plants at present, and there is only one "Yin Yang Face" that is truly the best.

The name was given by Ju Ming. The same peony has white and blue flowers. It is estimated that the seeds are hybrid varieties.

If you want to turn this polyploid variant from a single plant into a variety...it's very difficult!
Hundreds of years later, there is no guarantee with modern technology.

If it succeeds, it's a stroke of luck.

For example, the variety "Shou Case Red" appeared, who knows how. It is very likely that it was formed by accidental crossbreeding, and somehow it became a triploid peony that can reproduce.

Zhu Guoxiang now lives a comfortable life, playing with his wife and children all day long, and going out to the city to engage in agricultural research from time to time.

I went back to the palace today and took my wives directly to serve Peony.

The flowering period of polyploid peonies is later and longer, and the yin-yang face plant has not bloomed yet.

But Zhu Ming was very busy, with a lot of government affairs in the spring.

He was reading the landownership report sent by Wei Liangchen and was extremely satisfied with the progress of clearing the landownership.

But Zhu Ming didn't know that someone came to the capital to try and get rich.

At this moment, Liu Yannian stood outside the east city of the palace, looking at the Dengwen drum in front of him.

When things came to pass, Liu Yannian was afraid.

He wanted to gain fame and reputation, but he didn't dare to beat the drum.

He has no official status. How can he persuade the emperor if he doesn't beat the drum?

Walking back and forth in front of the Dengwen Drum, hesitating a lot, Liu Yannian chose to leave silently.

Maybe I will have the courage tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)