Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 73 Disease, Weakness, Death
When the carriage arrived nearby, Shi Wuzi was also very surprised. He did not expect that Chen Qingsi would come to greet a craftsman in person as a county magistrate.

However, after following Chen Qingsi for several months, he also knew Chen Qingsi's temperament. Apart from being strict with his subordinates, he did not have the official airs that a county magistrate should have. As long as he felt it was necessary, he would chat with even beggars on the street, let alone craftsmen. sentence.

Chen Qingsi was the least county magistrate he had ever seen, and he was also the best magistrate he had ever seen.

Qingxi County, which has become such a dilapidated state, is radiating brilliance little by little in his hands.

Shi Wuzi had never seen the expressions of the people in Qingxi County even in the big towns in the south of the Yangtze River like Hangzhou and Suzhou.

Shi Wuzi told Xu Wang in the car about Chen Qingsi's arrival.

When she learned that Chen Qingsi was coming to greet her in person, Mrs. Xu Wang, who was secretly worried in the carriage, was so surprised that she shouted "I'm sorry". Before the carriage stopped, she hurriedly got out of the car to pay her respects.

When Xu Wang was in Jiaxing, she heard from Shi Wuzi that Qingxi County Magistrate Chen Qingsi had personally invited her to Qingxi County for guidance. At first, she thought she was a liar.

Shi Wuzi was forced to have no choice but to find the son of the magistrate of Jiaxing County as a guarantee, and then the identity of Shi Wuzi was confirmed.

Xu Wang is very famous in the industry, but her class status was so unreal along the way. When she heard that Chen Qingsi came to greet her in person, she was even more panicked: she had never been treated like this before, and the other party was the head of a county.

Chen Qingsi received Mrs. Xu Wang with grand etiquette and took her to visit the nursing home.

The nursing home occupies a large area. It was originally a barn, so there is a large drying area for drying old rice.

But now the sunbathing area is more for the elderly to rest and chat together under the sun.

A corner of the drying area was filled with all kinds of clothes, and dozens of bamboo poles were hung with clothes.

Chen Qingsi personally introduced the entire nursing home to Mrs. Xu Wang, saying: "Now the nursing home takes over the canteen work of the county school and county government, as well as some washing and sewing work. Relying on the generous help of Captain Xi, the nursing home can barely manage Maintain self-sufficiency. I think this is not a long-term solution, and we cannot always rely on Captain Xi."

"Sericulture is the only thing I can think of that they are qualified for. It's just that the county has no experience in how to reasonably raise sericulture on a large scale, so I invited you here to give me some advice."

With a little fear, Mrs. Xu Wang also felt that the Qingxi County Magistrate really respected her. Her eyes turned slightly red and she said, "Thanks to Magistrate Chen for being so kind, I should do my best."

Looking at the young and promising magistrate of Qingxi County, Xu Wang secretly decided to rely on this respect and try her best to pass on her experience. Of course, ancestral skills cannot be passed on. This is the craft for their survival.

Chen Qingsi led Xu Wang to see the silkworm room they had prepared.

Xu Wang put forward many opinions on the spot, such as insulation and heat protection, moisture replenishment and dehumidification, ventilation and light transmission, and how to prevent dust and other details.

Chen Qingsi hurriedly asked people to write it down so that they could be corrected one by one.

Arriving at the silkworm room, Mrs. Xu Wang saw a group of women spraying gray water on the silkworm chrysalis. She frowned and said, "What are you doing?"

"Lime water..." Chen Qingsi said naturally: "Spraying lime water can simply disinfect fungi, which are poisons invisible to the naked eye."

Xu Wang said in astonishment: "Is this method effective?"

Chen Qingsi realized, is it possible that in this era, people haven't used lime water to disinfect them?
Indeed, the method of disinfecting bath seeds with lime water was discovered by silkworm farmers in Jiaxing and Huzhou during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Now in the Tang Dynasty, this technology does not exist.

He changed his mind and immediately made an excuse: "I learned this method from ancient books and tried it myself. It is absolutely effective."

He had never tried this before, but later generations had seen country people and common people use this method to disinfect silkworm chrysalises.

But he understands that times are progressing.

Although the reputation of the country people is far less than that of the Xu Wang family, according to the development laws of the times and the methods derived from the experience accumulated by the people from generation to generation, they are absolutely correct.

Xu Wang's face was uncertain.As one of the top silkworm farmers of this era, Xu Wang knows that the final quality of silk is closely related to the quality of silkworm breeds.

In order to cultivate better silkworm seeds, they would spread silkworm seeds in the snow during the snowy days of the twelfth lunar month, letting the snow cover for a day, using low temperature to eliminate sick and weak silkworm eggs. The ancients called this Tianyu, and they would also wash them with warm soup. , promote the hatching of silkworm eggs, commonly known as bath seeds.

There were no thermometers in this era, so the temperature of warm soup depended entirely on experience.

In order to cultivate better silkworms, Xu Wang's family has been studying this method for several generations, but they have never tried disinfecting them with lime water.

If this happens, it will be no less than a new idea.

Xu Wang did not dare to act like an expert when it came to Chen Qingsi, even though she did not believe that this method was feasible.

"Can I take a closer look at some silkworm seeds?"

Chen Qingsi made a gesture of invitation.

Mrs. Xu Wang stepped forward and squinted her eyes to watch. A hint of horror flashed through her cloudy old eyes and she said, "These silkworms are all of the highest quality? But I don't know where they were purchased from?"

Chen Qingsi said: "It is the silkworm seed cultivated by the silkworm farmers in this county..."

A trace of happiness flashed across Mrs. Xu's face and she said, "Have you been using this lime water to disinfect me?"

"Always using it!"

After receiving such an answer, Mrs. Xu Wang was so excited that she hurriedly bowed her head: "I am ignorant and stupid, but today I know that there is a sky outside the world, and there are people outside the world."

Xu Wang has been in this business all his life, and he can clearly understand the advantages and disadvantages of silkworm seeds at a glance.

Their top-quality silkworm breeds from Jiazhou are never sold out to ensure their preeminent status as the hometown of silk.

Qingxi County, which is not famous for its sericulture, has actually cultivated silkworm species that can be compared with Jiaxing. This shows that this lime water disinfecting method is not only feasible, but also extremely effective.

The Xu family has become a leader in the sericulture industry and is actively improving various methods, not starting with the elimination of silkworm seeds.

There was a trace of regret in her eyes. If this method was mastered by the Xu family, the status of the Xu family would be even higher.

However, although they had not been together for long, Xu Wang could feel that Chen Qingsi was a person. He was not someone who kept this top-secret technology private. Rather than letting one family enjoy this technology exclusively, he would rather let all the silkworm farmers in the world have this technology. method.

After this episode, Mrs. Xu Wang became more attentive to matters here. In addition to personally imparting her experience as a silkworm farmer in Qingxi County, she also agreed to transfer two disciples from Jiaxing to guide her throughout the process.

Just when the atmosphere was perfect, the servant reported that Lei Xin, the chief clerk, had purchased silkworm seeds from Tonglu County and had returned to the county.

Chen Qingsi clasped his hands together and said: "It's a good time to come, why not come by chance? Let's go and see the master together?"

"That's fine!" Xu Wang had just been a frog in the well for a while, and wanted to see if Jiaxing's silkworm breed had come from behind, or if Qingxi County was the only exception.

Lei Xin looked excited and said with a tone of asking for credit: "County Magistrate Chen, compared to Jiahang who is not willing to sell high-quality silkworm seeds, and second-class silkworm seeds are also very expensive, Tonglu County is very talkative. Not only did they sell us high-quality silkworm seeds, The price is affordable.”

Xu Wang was instructed by Chen Qingsi to come to the carriage and open a basket of bamboo baskets. At a glance, her expression changed drastically. She reached out to take a bunch and took a closer look at it. Finally, she even used her fingernails to tear open the cocoon and examine the silkworm chrysalis inside. .

Without saying a word, Mrs. Xu Wang opened the baskets of bamboo baskets purchased by Lei Xin one by one, and then said: "Reporting to the county magistrate, these silkworm species do seem to be high-quality silkworm species, but most of them are diseased and weak species. Even dead species.”

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(End of this chapter)