serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 479 Before the Expedition

There are two more flower trees in front of Kunning Palace. The flower trees are tall and straight, with luxuriant branches and leaves.

Inside the door, Lin Daiyu sat on a bamboo chair under the dripping eaves. Siblings Jia Jinxuan and Jia Song leaned on their mother's knees, looking out at the palace gate in surprise!
Zijuan, Xueyan and Qingwen also stared outside the palace gate with wide eyes.

Ma Shun, the eunuch in charge of Kunning Palace, led a group of palace ladies and eunuchs to stand outside the door. They all lowered their heads and did not dare to take a breath.

In the distance, Jia Hu walked quickly towards this side carrying two wooden barrels filled with river water.

Jia Hu wore a navy blue cotton robe, with the corners tucked into a bright yellow belt that represented his identity, and the sleeves rolled up high.

Seeing Jia Hu's expression, Lin Daiyu pursed her lips, the corners of her slightly raised lips filled with joy and happiness.

These two flower trees are not ordinary flower trees. They are the oldest flower trees in the Imperial Garden, more than 200 years old.

This tree is called Catalpa tree. It is the king of trees in the imperial garden. It is a precious tree species and is called "immortal tree" in Taoism because its flowers are purple-red, which means "purple air comes from the east." ".

The former Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty believed in Taoism and ordered catalpa trees to be planted in the palace. When the flowers were in full bloom, the imperial garden was filled with purple, which was stunning.

During dinner, Mrs. You talked about what happened in the imperial garden. After Jia Hu learned that Lin Daiyu admired the catalpa trees, he immediately led people to pick two of the best catalpa trees and transplanted them to the entrance of Kunning Palace.

Of course, Lin Daiyu already knew why Jia Hu went crazy.

Although there was Jia Hu's guilt in this, what was more important was his love for her, which Lin Daiyu could feel.

Ma Shun led several young eunuchs to greet him, trying to take the bucket from Jia Hu's hand.

Jia Hu glared at them.

Ma Shun and others were so frightened that they bowed their heads and retreated.

Jia Hu carried the bucket and walked towards the flower tree step by step.

Jia Jinxuan looked at Jia Hu with a smile: "Father!"

Jia Hu looked at her with a smile, lifted the handle of the bucket with one hand, and the bottom of the bucket with the other hand to water the flower tree, and then poured a bucket of river water to another catalpa tree.

Jia Hu wiped the water on his hands with the corner of his robe. He looked at the two catalpa trees in front of the door and nodded with satisfaction. He walked towards Lin Daiyu and said, "I called the gardener and asked if such an ancient tree could be used back then." It will bloom in May or June at the latest!”

"Ah."

Lin Daiyu stood up holding on to the armrest of the bamboo armchair, took out the bright yellow handkerchief from her sleeve, and handed it to Jia Hu: "Wipe it."

Jia Hu smiled and took the handkerchief, wiped the sweat on his forehead, and said to Zicuckoo: "Go and prepare bath water for me."

Zicuckoo responded, turned around and walked out.

At this time, Jia Jinxuan hugged Jia Hu's legs and looked up at him with a smile.

Jia Hu smiled happily, picked up her daughter with one hand, held her son with the other, and said to Lin Daiyu, "Let's go into the house to talk."

Lin Daiyu smiled lightly, held Xue Yan's hand and walked towards the palace.

Entering the palace, Jia Hu sat down on the couch, took a sip of tea, and said to Lin Daiyu: "If nothing else happens, this is the last time I will lead an army on an expedition."

Lin Daiyu looked at him and said nothing.

Jia Hu was silent for a moment and said, "I have a few things to tell you." At this point, he looked at Xue Yan and Qing Wen.

Xueyan and Qingwen bowed and retreated.

Only Jia Hu and Lin Daiyu were left here, as well as the siblings Jia Jinxuan and Jia Song who were playing around on the couch.

Lin Daiyu came over and sat down next to Jia Hu.

Jia Hu held Lin Daiyu's hand, rubbed it, and said: "There are a group of craftsmen in Mobei who are about to enter the customs. When the time comes, you arrange them to the Ordnance Bureau. Don't break them up. Arrange them individually. Not only are these people Being able to independently complete the creation of a breech-loaded firegun and having a certain level of creative ability is extremely valuable!"

Lin Daiyu smiled: "Don't worry, I will definitely make arrangements to take care of these treasures."

Jia Hu rolled his eyes at her, and then said: "I bribed a few Xiyi people years ago. Counting the time, there will be news in April or May. Please pay attention." With that, he stood up and went to the palace. Go to the bookcase on the side.

Walking to the bookcase, Jia Hu took off the bunch of keys from his waist and opened the door in the middle.There are boxes neatly arranged in the cabinet.

Jia Hu's eyes searched among the boxes with catalogs on them. Then he took out a box with a label that read "Steam Engine" and walked back to the couch to sit down.

Handing a folded piece of paper to Lin Daiyu, Jia Hu said, "Take a look."

Lin Daiyu took the exhibition and looked at it. She was startled at first, then read word by word, her face gradually became serious.

Jia Hu looked at the dragon and phoenix, "A steam engine is a reciprocating power machine that converts the energy of steam into mechanical work. It requires a boiler that boils water to produce high-pressure steam. This boiler can use wood or coal as a heat source, and the steam expands to push The work done by the piston produces kinetic energy.

I heard from William that the British, the British, designed a steam engine with a condenser separate from the cylinder wall, which can more than triple the efficiency of the steam engine and can be used in industries such as mining, smelting, and textiles. "

After watching it, Lin Daiyu was shocked and sat there in trance.

Jia Hu: "This thing has been improved and can be mounted on a ship."

Lin Daiyu's eyes flashed: "Then the boat can get rid of the influence of wind direction and current."

Jia Hu smiled: "Sister Lin is so smart!"

Lin Daiyu rolled her eyes at him: "Foreign races cannot be trusted. This kind of thing should still be in the hands of our own people!"

Jia Hu looked at her: "So you have to help me."

Lin Daiyu looked at him closely.

Jia Hu: "When the second- and third-class students take the Hanlin Academy exam, a new Gezhixue exam will be added to select some Jinshi who are flexible and willing to accept new knowledge. The books in the hands of the missionaries should be sent to Beijing in April. Before that, let them read Xu Guangqi’s book first, and I’m ready.”

At this point, I picked up the tea bowl out of habit and opened the lid, but it was already dry, so I had to put the tea bowl down again.

Lin Daiyu was the only one left in the bedroom. She smiled and took out a teapot from a hollow ivory tea basket on the table and filled Jia Hu with water.

Jia Hu: "Thank you, Sister Lin." After saying that, he picked up the tea bowl again and took a few sips before putting it down again. "Gezhixue is a good thing. It can promote the improvement of production methods and can be applied to many things. Militarily, the Xiyi people are already one step ahead of us, and we must speed up our pace to catch up!"

Lin Daiyu nodded, looked at the outline again, and asked: "Is this train really as magical as you said?"

Jia Hu smiled: "When have I ever lied to you! If you don't believe it, when the train is developed, I will take you to see thousands of miles of mountains and rivers."

Lin Daiyu's eyes lit up: "Okay, then I'll be waiting for you."

Jia Hu patted his chest and said, "I'll take you to the Hulunbuir Grassland to ride horses and watch the sunset, to grill fish in Lake Baikal, and to go boating in the West Lake." He pointed at Jia Song, "Let this guy look after the house, and let's go out and be cool."

Lin Daiyu smiled happily.

Jia Hu suddenly remembered: "I plan to reset Yiluansi, what do you think?"

Lin Daiyu suppressed her smile: "Change the intelligence network in Jiao Da's hands into Yiluansi?"

Jia Hu nodded: "At present, the imperial court's supervision system and judicial system have complex procedures and low efficiency. Many local officials use this to attack political opponents, avenge themselves, and line their own pockets. Local yamen deceive the imperial court from time to time. In many major cases, the imperial court simply cannot Not knowing the true situation has resulted in many unjust, false and wrongful convictions.

After the establishment of the Yiluan Division, it can directly participate in the supervision and judicial trial process, and can supervise local officials, which will help prevent local officials from seeking personal gain, thereby curbing the growth of corruption.

Of course, in order to prevent Yi Luan Si from abusing his power, Yi Luan Si will never have the power to enforce the law. He cannot arrest, examine or convict, but can only supervise and collect intelligence. "

Lin Daiyu's face became serious: "This matter cannot be brought to light for the time being."

"Yes." Jia Hu nodded heavily, then stood up, and continued: "This is only temporary. When the war is over and the country stabilizes, I will revise the law to strengthen the legal constraints on officials and gentry.

Of course, we can't just let the horses run without giving them grass to increase the officials' salaries and benefits. However, whoever commits corruption should not just pursue the individual, but should be beheaded together if they want to sit together and enjoy it as a whole family."

Lin Daiyu quickly interrupted him: "Okay, okay, you can't rush this kind of thing, just take your time."

Jia Hu sat down again, handed the bunch of keys to Lin Daiyu, and said: "The troop deployment tokens and other things are all in the bookcase, as well as some pamphlets I wrote. You can also take a look. I will leave them to you at home. Got it!"

Lin Daiyu looked at Jia Hu deeply, and then nodded: "Then you must be careful! My child and I are waiting for you at home."

Jia Hu said "hmm", slowly took her hand and held her in his arms.
(End of this chapter)