The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 169

Jia Huan looked at Lin Daiyu and continued with a smile: "The old mouse was overjoyed when he heard the news, so he pulled out a command arrow and asked, who is going to steal the rice? As soon as the mouse took the command arrow, he went to steal the rice. The old mouse pulled out the command arrow again and asked, who was going to steal the beans? ?Another mouse was ordered to steal the beans. In the end, only one type of taro was left. The old mouse then pulled out the last command arrow and asked, who is going to steal the taro?

I saw an extremely thin mouse standing up and said: I'll go.

When the old mouse saw that the little mouse was born thin, he was worried that his strength would be insufficient, so he was not allowed to go. However, the little mouse argued hard: "Although I am young and weak, my power is boundless, my articulation is far-reaching, and I have far-reaching ideas. I will definitely steal more than them here." skillful.

The old mouse hurriedly asked: What a clever way?

The little mouse said: "I don't steal like they do. I just change my body and turn into a taro. I roll it in the taro pile so that no one can see or hear it. But I secretly use the method of clone to carry the incense bit by bit." Wouldn't it be more convenient to move all the taros away than to steal them by force?

When the old mouse and other mice heard this, they all said: It's wonderful, but I don't know how to change it. You can change it first and let's see.

Then the little mouse transformed into a beautiful young lady.The mice laughed and said, "It's wrong, it's wrong. It turned out to be a fruit, but how can I transform it into a girl?"

The little mouse said disdainfully: "I said you have never seen the world. You only recognize the fruit as taro, but you don't know that the lady from Master Lin's family who patrols salt is the real taro (jade)." "

Lin Daiyu was listening attentively at first, but she suddenly woke up when she heard this. She made a pink fist and dropped it like raindrops. She laughed and said: "Damn it, I knew you were setting me up."

Jia Huan was beaten until he ran away, laughing, and escaped from the quiet room. Lin Daiyu was afraid that others would see her, but she didn't dare to chase him out, so she had to turn around and clean up the black and white chess pieces scattered on the floor.

Yangzhou's water transportation is particularly developed, especially the major salt fields along the coast, which are all connected by canals. The purpose is naturally to facilitate the transportation of salt.

It is said that the building boat sailed downstream along the Sishui River for a while and then turned into the canal. It took half a day to reach Taizhou. It arrived at Xixi Town in the evening and stayed here for one night. On the next day, it continued northward along the canal to Baijuchang.

Baiju Chang is the largest salt farm in Anfeng County. Lin Ruhai stayed here for half a day and took Jia Huan and others to visit it inside and out.Jia Huan was an archeology major in his previous life and knew something about the salt boiling method, but now after visiting it with his own eyes, he realized that his previous understanding from old papers was still superficial.

As the saying goes: What you learn on paper will eventually make you realize it is shallow, but you will definitely know that you have to do it in detail.

Everything must be seen with one's own eyes and experienced in order to understand it deeply.For example, in the past, Jia Huan had never understood why the Ming Dynasty insisted on using the boiled salt method. The sun-dried salt method was obviously easier and more efficient, so why not use it?
The system of the Jin Dynasty was almost exactly the same as that of the Ming Dynasty in history. Although the more advanced salt-drying method had been invented long ago, the backward salt-cooking method was still used. Through this visit to Baiju Chang, Jia Huan finally understood the meaning of it. The door is open.

It turns out that although the method of boiling salt is backward, it is easy to control. To boil salt, you need firewood, an iron pot, a place, and a grass farm to provide firewood. Not to mention other things, just the iron pot for boiling salt is heavy. It weighs several thousand kilograms and requires a group of people to work together. Only the government has the ability to cast this kind of iron pot, and it is impossible for individuals to play with it. Moreover, one iron pot and a group of people can roughly boil how much salt they can boil in a day. , so the production of illegal salt can be effectively controlled.It is difficult to control the salt-drying method. Salt farmers do not need iron pots or firewood. They only need offshore sites and seawater to spread the sun. There is no way to estimate and monitor the output. In this way, it will inevitably It will lead to the proliferation of private salt. Once private salt floods, the common people will benefit, but the court will not be able to collect taxes. Salt tax is the bulk of the national treasury revenue. How can we support the army without money?How to pay salaries to officials?How do emperors and nobles maintain a luxurious life?So let’s give the common people a hard time. We don’t want the more advanced sun-dried salt method, and we should continue to use the boiled salt method!

Fantastic science and technology are the primary productive forces. If something goes against the interests of the ruling class, the primary productive forces have to go away. Although it is ironic, it is very realistic.

Let’s get back to the subject. After visiting the Baiju Salt Farm, Jia Huan and his party continued northward along the canal and entered Yancheng County.The reason why Yancheng County is called Yancheng County is naturally because it is a major salt-producing county. In fact, Yancheng County has the largest number of salt fields. Along the canal to the northernmost town of Miaowan, there are as many as seven or eight salt fields. Therefore, it is more appropriate to call it Yancheng.

At noon that day, Lin Ruhai and his party finally arrived at Miaowanchang in the northernmost part of Yancheng County. The local officials who heard the news had been waiting on the pier early. In addition to the officials from the Salt Transportation Department stationed at the scene, even the local county magistrate and chief executive Others also came here specially to look familiar.

After everyone got off the boat, Lin Ruhai and Zhang Yongdong greeted the local officials who came to greet them, while Jia Huan, Lin Daiyu and others mingled with the accompanying crowd.

After summer, the weather is getting hotter and hotter. The seaside areas are all plains, the soil is loose and salinized, and the vegetation is naturally sparse and unobstructed. The early summer sun shines directly on the earth, and it is noon. It was very hot, and Jia Huan was already sweating slightly on his forehead.

Since telling the story of taro on the boat that day, the relationship between Lin Daiyu and Jia Huan has obviously become closer. At this moment, Lin Daiyu, dressed as a book boy, is standing next to Jia Huan. She is obviously one year older than Jia Huan, but she is taller. But she was half a head shorter than Jia Huan. She looked like a little bird, and Sister Lin became Sister Lin.

Maybe it was because of her weak body, but Lin Daiyu was not afraid of the heat. She was still calm and calm while standing under the scorching sun. Seeing that Jia Huan was sweating profusely due to the heat, she subconsciously stretched out her handkerchief to wipe his forehead. After wiping it, she felt It was inappropriate, so he quickly retracted his hand, his face already turning crimson.

Jia Huan was listening to the conversation between Lin Ruhai and the Yancheng County magistrate. He didn't seem to notice anything strange about Lin Daiyu. He just smiled, opened the folding fan and shook it vigorously, then stretched the folding fan over Lin Daiyu's head to shade her from the sun.

Xue Yan smiled and whispered: "Third Master, please let me do it. How can a master fan a bookboy." After saying that, he took the fan from Jia Huan.

At this time, Lin Ruhai and others finally finished their greetings and walked towards the Yunsi Yamen. A group of salt soldiers blocked the surrounding roads to prevent anyone from approaching.

Jia Huan was about to follow Lin Ruhai into Yunsi Yamen when he suddenly felt a familiar figure flash among the crowd in the distance, but when he looked carefully, it was gone again.

"Brother Huan, what's wrong?" Seeing Jia Huan looking around, Lin Daiyu followed his gaze and asked in a low voice.

Jia Huan shook his head and smiled: "Nothing, let's go in."

(End of this chapter)